Midnight Sun

I'm getting a little tired of hearing people say this is Reid's version of "Heart of Darkness." That implies (at least to me) as if Reid's book is less than Conrad's, when in reality - it is more. It's vibrant, entertaining, realistic.The only comment I'll have to the negative is that I recently finished Reid's short story collection - What Salmon Know. Reid packs so much energy into those short tales that Midnight Sun is almost a watered down version of Reid at his best, as it would be impossible for him to pack so much power into every line of a book this size.Both books are winners, but for me What Salmon Know was a "can't put it down" book, while Midnight Sun is a "looking forward to picking it up" book. It's a subtle difference, but one that fervent readers will be able to understand.

Elwood Reid has written a thrilling, action-adventure tale set in the last great wilderness of the country. Narrator Jack and his buddy Burke fish on weekends, and work as carpenters during the day putting up cheap housing developments in Fairbanks. When Burke meets an older man, Duke, whose daughter Penny has joined a cult deep in the wilderness and never came back, our protagonists are dispatched to go save her. They are woefully unprepared, both for the voyage and for what they encounter at journey's end.The novel oftentimes feels like a cross between Deliverance (some of the scenes bear a striking similarity to Dickey's classic novel of city boys over their head in the wild), and Conrad's Heart of Darkness. He skillfully builds up the mystery surrounding the leader of the commune, Nunn, and the strange grip he seems to hold on the various occupants of the camp who have escaped from civilization for various reasons. I thought the testosterone level of the book was a little off the charts at the outset, with the reader being treated to various sexual fantasies and cruel innuendos surrounding virtually every female character in the novel (including a recent widow) while in Fairbanks. But once Jack and Burke take off up the river to the camp to "rescue" Penny, the adventure really begins and Reid hits his stride.For a while I couldn't put the book down, as the various characters gradually and reluctantly reveal more and more of the camp's secrets to the inquisitive newcomers. Ultimately I thought the revelations were somewhat anticlimactic, and some of the plotlines were left a little loose and unresolved in my mind (like what exactly motivated Penny to join the group, and what secret motives, if any, did Duke have for sending in Jack and Burke?) However, all in all I thought this was a very satisfying read, an action-packed adventure story in a big strange setting where you could feel the mosquitos biting your leg, and see your breath leaving your mouth in the icy cold air. Reid has a hypnotic quality to his writing, and I was drawn in from the first chapter.

The great thing about Reid's writing is that it's always in the moment--the here and now--no messing around. The prose is polished and muscular, and the story contains the three G's essential for any good Alaskan adventure: guns, gold, and grizzlies. Best book I've read in a long time.

As he did with the coming of age novel with "If I Don't Six," Elwood Reid has put his own spin on the finding yourself novel. Elwood's own spin follows the style he has employed in his past work, the aforementioned novel and "What Salmon Know," a great collection of short stories: direct language, fluid plot structure, and the use of dialogue to move his story forward. This spin also includes drinking, fighting, survivalists/cultists, sex, fire, gold and a plot intricate enough to include them all exactly where they belong, and it's set in the wilderness of Alaska to boot.Elwood continues his very strong style of writing. His taut, muscular prose has drawn comparisons to Conrad, Hemingway, London, and Harrison. He writes with respect of his subjects, in a fairly dark manner. Though the sentences are short, they are powerful and mesmerizing. There is a poetry to his writing."Midnight Sun's" plot is intriguing and the story is a page turner with few flaws. Towards the end of the book, there is a scene which reveals a slight twist to the plot that seems overly foreshadowed because the surprise wasn't nearly as great as it could have been. Though with Elwood's straight ahead, honest prose, this may have been intended. The protagonist, Jack, has ended up in Alaska, moving from job to job, searching for something. He is deemed soft to some degree by his compatriots, because he attended a bit of college. He and a buddy take a special job, going to rescue a man's daughter from a cult leader and bring her back to her father before he dies. This takes them into the wilderness of Alaska, which is vividly described, where they find there is much more to the story. Prior to the special job, Jack goes back and forth between being content with his life, and feeling he should be finding something with more stature. He is as unheroic a main character as has been seen in recent fiction which plays off well with his sidekick, Burke, who plays the John Wayne hero in his own mind.As much as this novel is about searching for oneself, it is also about heroism and the effects being or not being a hero has on an individual. Most people have all been in situations similar to those that Jack and Burke get themselves in, where a decision and an action needs to be made. It is how we respond to those situations that define us, and help decide our future paths. Reid uses Jack and Burke to show both the positive and negative results of those decisions and actions, but he doesn't necessarily come to any conclusions. He does what all good writers do, gets his readers to think about it, and come up with their own ideas. This is a book that needs to be read.

As he did with the coming of novel with "If I Don't Six," Elwood Reid has put his own spin on the finding yourself novel. Elwood's own spin follows the style he has employed in his past work, the aforementioned novel and "What Salmon Know," a great collection of short stories: direct language, fluid plot structure, and the use of dialogue to move his story forward. This spin also includes drinking, fighting, survivalists/cultists, sex, fire, gold and a plot intricate enough to include them all exactly where they belong, and it's set in the wilderness of Alaska to boot.Elwood continues his very strong style of writing. His taut, muscular prose has drawn comparisons to Conrad, Hemingway, London and Harrison. He writes with respect of his subjects, in a fairly dark manner. Though the sentences are short, they are powerful and mesmerizing. There is a poetry to his writing."Midnight Sun's" plot is intriguing and the story is a page turner with few flaws. Towards the end of the book, there is a scene which reveals a slight twist to the plot that seems overly foreshadowed because the surprise wasn't nearly as great as it could have been. Though with Elwood's straight ahead, honest prose, this may have been intended.The protagonist, Jack, has ended up in Alaska, moving from job to job, searching for something. He is deemed soft to some degree by his compatriots, because he attended a bit of college. He and a buddy take a special job, going to rescue a man's daughter from a cult leader and bring her back to her father before he dies. This takes them into the wilderness of Alaska, which is vividly described, where they find there is much more to the story.Prior to the special job, Jack goes back and forth between being content with his life, and feeling he should be finding something with more stature. He is as unheroic a main character as has been seen in recent fiction which plays off well with his sidekick, Burke, who plays the John Wayne hero in his own mind.As much as this novel is about searching for oneself, it is also about heroism and the effects of being or not being a hero has on an individual. Most people have all been in situations similar to those that Jack and Burke get themselves in, where a decision and an action needs to be made. It is how we respond to those situations that define us, and help decide our future paths. Reid uses Jack and Burke to show both the positive and negative results of those decisions and actions, but he doesn't necessarily come to any conclusions. He does what all good writers do, he gets his readers to think about it, and come up with their own ideas. This is a book that needs to be read.