FALLEN ANGEL OF THE HIGHWAY

A novella from debut author Hage about a trucker’s violent revenge.

As a young boy, Sean watched the truckers pass by his school bus stop and dreamed of the day he might join their ranks. But when life’s pressures intervened, he gave up his dream in order to help save the family farm. Despite his best efforts, the farm went the way of so many other small farms and was lost to big agribusiness. Sean is finally able to become a trucker, getting married and fathering two children along the way. Divorce, disrupted paternal relationships and the loss of a beloved dog due to the capricious rules of a security guard all contribute to Sean’s increasing bitterness. A second marriage to a childhood crush seems set to give him a new lease on life, but his anger begins to spiral out of control. Increased regulation and scrutiny after 9/11 feels targeted at honest truckers and further fuels his resentment. And when his simmering anger finally drives away his second wife, the emotional fallout leads to devastating consequences for himself and those around him. Sans subplots, pacing is swift in Hage’s novella, and plenty of plot twists will maintain reader interest. There are, however, a few underdeveloped threads (e.g., “Since the judge hated truck drivers, he chose to believe it”), and Hage’s interjection of commentary (“Questions would be asked, such as: ‘Was this a terrorist attack, or simply an individual that snapped and was bent on revenge?’ ”) could stand to go, too. Still, Sean’s transition from working-class Joe to violent killer is a fiery one. A fast-paced tale about what happens when a man snaps.