First Thoughts: Angel in the Front Room, Devil Out Back

Angel in the Front Room, Devil Out Back by Stanford Diehl

I’m not usually into contemporary fiction. I’m much more a fantasy / sci-fi girl. I can’t remember how I even found this book (I have a bad habit of just clicking through Amazon and just writing down titles) but the summery was half-way interesting. So I picked it up at the library last weekend. It’s a big book, 420 pages long, and I might not even finish it if the characters don’t settle down soon. I’m only 80 pages in but I’ve already come to two conclusions; everyone in Solomon’s Rock, Georgia is evil and Jackson Moon has a split personality. 

Twenty years ago something bad went down in Solomon’s Rock, something so bad that it scared Jackson Moon into running. Now, years later, he’s back in his hometown to find some answers. Too bad he can’t decide whether to be the hero or the coward in this book. During one confrontation with a person from his past, now the commissioner, he is cowed by the man telling him to keep his nose out of the town’s business. But only a few pages later, in a confrontation with a judge, Jackson Moon plucks up the courage to sass back to the other man. Jackson held the judge’s gaze. “If I can’t dig up any bodies,” he said, “maybe I’ll have to bury some.” It’s like we’re dealing with two different people. 

There are a lot of characters in this book and more are coming out of the woodwork on every page. We’re still figuring out where everyone fits and slowly learning what might have happened in Solomon’s Rock, Georgia 20 years ago. Right now I think we’re still stacking the deck with the cast and I’m hoping that the book picks up after the next few chapters. The reader doesn’t know much at this point and the protagonist appears to know even less.

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