de Mojo Blues

Accused of collaborating in a murder while serving in Vietnam, three black privatesTucept HighJohn, Willie D. and Mikereceive dishonorable discharges from the army. They arrive in San Francisco on a December day in 1970, and go their separate ways. Tucept returns home to Memphis, convinced that he has been changed by something ""so alien to him that he only knows it as a restless anxiety.'' Holding a leather bag filled with bones, given to him by Jethro, a close friend and colleague who died in Vietnam, Tucept frequently relives his war experiences. Inspired by the memory of Jethro, who spoke often of the Lost Book of Hoodoo, Tucept apprentices himself to a Hoodoo master in his quest to acquire ``power.'' He eventually achieves his goal, and at novel's end comes together with Willie D. and Mike, with whom he shares his new discoveries. Smoothly and at times exquisitely written, this is a sincere and creative first novel by a very promising writer. January 21