Flat Track

Mexis’ debut novel offers an ode to flat-track motorcycle racing.

Soon after Gunner Adams was born, he was abandoned by his father; he was raised by his alcoholic mother in Indiana until her death when he was 12. The Gunner that readers see for the majority of the novel is a troubled 23-year-old living in Santa Rosa, Calif., where he helps his uncle fix motorcycles. He’s also an especially talented flat-track motorcyclist, and the sections of the novel in which Gunner muses about racing, or actually races, have vivid imagery and expert insight. In this way, the novel’s subtitle—“A story about coming of age, love, and above all, racing”—sets up a hierarchy that proves to be accurate. However, the remainder of the story suffers from clichéd plot points and awkward dialogue. At an early race, for example, Gunner meets Joya, who works for the flat-track racing organization. Joya falls in love with him immediately, and, coincidentally, she happens to know Gunner’s runaway father. Before Joya and Gunner head to the biggest race of the year, the Indy Mile, she takes Gunner to meet him. The two men trade the requisite displays of anger and guilt before Gunner receives a helpful racing tip from his father—a former racer himself. When other conflicts arise, they primarily take place off the track. At one point, energy-drink guru and racing sponsor Tom Allen bribes Uncle Jim to sabotage a particular racer’s bike in a way that leads to his disqualification; later, he burns down Jim’s garage “for fun.” Unfortunately, Tom is so thinly drawn that his actions, and their relationship to Gunner, never feel very meaningful to readers. Later, when he becomes a factor at the Indy Mile, his presence feels strangely disconnected from the rest of the story.

An uneven novel that delivers compelling racing scenes but underdeveloped characters.