Delirium of the Brave

The success of this gossipy but somewhat overwritten debut novel by a 51-year-old Savannah, Ga., podiatrist resulted from local media buzz rather than stellar literary qualities. Originally published by the small Savannah publisher Frederic C. Beil, the novel was a word-of-mouth sleeper, eventually replacing John Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil on regional bestseller lists (Book News, May 17). In an auction, St. Martin's acquired world rights in what was reported (Hot Deals, July 5) to be a six-figure, two-book deal. The ambitious, well-researched roman clef begins during the Civil War and moves into the present day, building on a legend about buried treasure on tiny Raccoon Island (one of the barrier islands that dot the coastal waterways around Savannah). The plot centers on the progeny of a young Confederate officer, Patrick Driscoll, and his devoted slave companion, Shadrack Bryan, who bury a chest of valuables to keep it from Yankee looters. Both men are killed, taking their secret to the grave. Skimming across generations, the plot leapfrogs into the late 1930s, when hot-tempered young reporter John Morgan Hartman marries into the Driscoll family. It is Hartman's son John-Morgan and John-Morgan's contemporary, Father Lloyd Bryan, who become the novel's protagonists, their destinies mixed with that of a powerful and corrupt Savannah family headed by politico Tony O'Boyle. A mythic wild boar, a serial killer, an unsolved fratricide, blackmail, sex, sleazy politics and a Hemingwayesque recovery from war-related impotence move the narrative along. While Harris lacks the storytelling gifts that have distinguished many a Southern yarn, he is skilled at plot control. Something of a diamond in the rough, the novel has enough whispered scandal about prominent families to keep reading lamps burning late in the South; whether it can develop national appeal remains to be seen. Agent, Nancy Stauffer. $100,000 ad/promo; author tour. (Nov.)