Shine on Me

Mojtabai’s (All That Road Going) episodic novella takes place in a small West Texas town at a car dealership sponsoring a giveaway for a new pickup truck. Any contestant who breaks physical contact with the vehicle is disqualified, and the last person standing drives away with the prize. The story ebbs and flows for days as the contestant pool dwindles: Josh and Dan, feuding twin brothers who, instead of working together, undermine each others’ efforts; Bev, who works at a tattoo-removal parlor and whose born-again enthusiasm becomes her worst enemy; Gladys, confused and alone after being stranded at the altar, who arrives at a critical decision. But veteran journalist Trew Reade is the novel’s real focus; his backstory, including a lengthy, soul-sucking stint as a reporter on Texas’s busy death row and a late realization that his career will never end with a Pulitzer Prize or a bestselling book, as he had once imagined, gives heft to an otherwise uneven story. Vince, a cameraman who hangs on until the bitter end only to miss the money shot, adds a humorous counterpoint to Trew’s unblinking professionalism. Mojtabai’s compact, poignant, and amusing contemplation of the banality of life—and death—can be read in one sitting. Like the hopefuls who stand around the pickup truck for days on end dreaming their own version of the American dream, some characters will stick with readers and others will melt into the shimmering landscape. (Oct.)