Hadrian's Walls

No amount of East Texas drawling, hard backslapping or red clay dust can hide the corruption lurking in the heart of Draper's scorching, Faustian first novel. A prison town that feels more like an ante-bellum plantation--inmates serve as everything from houseboys to field hands--Shepherdsville thrives because the Texas Department of Criminal Retribution absolutely dominates the community's political, economic and social landscape. The story begins with the return to town of native son and convicted double murderer Hadrian Coleman, the prison's only successful escapee, after eight years on the lam. He is free because Sonny Hope, his boyhood friend and now the prison director, secured a governor's pardon on his behalf. Hadrian is less certain of his own innocence, and he continues to wrestle with personal demons that howl louder when he discovers his pardon comes with strings attached. Sonny is a charismatic opportunist who once testified against his own father, former prison director Thunderball Hope, during a corruption investigation. He also followed in his father's footsteps, liberally employing graft and bully tactics to grease the sticky bureaucratic wheels of the criminal system. Now he faces a major scandal and believes he can get out of it only with Hadrian's collusion in a desperate strategy. The two men plunge into an emotional vortex complicated further by the love each feels for Sonny's wife, Jill. Draper skillfully balances his stark portrayal of Shepherdsville's environs and feckless inhabitants with the affecting drama that unfolds among the central characters. His ambitious novel explores the irony, pathos and contradictions inherent in our conceptions both of freedom vs. captivity and of good vs. evil. 60,000 first printing; author tour. (May)