THE LEGACY OF GLORIA RUSSELL

Billy is mourning the loss of his friend Gloria, who died suddenly of an aneurysm. He has a box that she had given him, but is reluctant to open it because it would mean he has accepted her death. Billy also feels compelled to befriend Josef Satan, feared and distrusted by everyone in the small Ozark town, because Josef had been a friend to Gloria. Complications abound. Gloria had never told Bill she had a younger brother Nick, who has now come to live with his (and Gloria’s) mother. The townspeople rise up against Satan and Billy comes to his rescue. This is total soap opera and by the time it concludes, the reader tends to be relieved rather than deeply moved. At one point Nick rails, “This place is like some stupid movie where everyone’s stuck in the ’50s.” It’s not a timeless work, but instead has no real sense of time. Set in the Ozarks, it seems to be more of a caricature of hillbilly culture. Not worth the effort. (Fiction. 10-14)