Monuments - Cloth

Following Players, this is Reynolds's fourth novel about the dusty, hot and sleepy West Texas town of Agatite, a faded stewpot of roiling passion, savage gossip and crooked politics in the late 1980s. Fourteen-year-old Hugh Rudd wants to mow lawns over the summer to earn enough cash to buy a mountain bike before starting high school, but his plans go way off track when the Burlington Northern railroad tries to destroy the Hendershot Grocery Warehouse, a huge, ugly concrete building that is a town landmark, to make way for a new switching station. Despite having no real historical significance, the building becomes a lightning rod for preservationists, do-gooders and anyone with a grudge against the railroad and corporate greed. Before long, the entire town is in an uproar, tempers flare and the wheels come off this seemingly quiet, peaceful community. And Hugh is right in the middle of the mess. The boy befriends old Jonas Wilson, the town reprobate and ""bogeyman,"" who, contrary to his reputation, has a lot of wisdom to impart--not least of which concerns the secrets Agatite would like to see buried in the rubble of the old warehouse. The building is really just a cover for a corrupt political power grab that Hugh and Jonas try to expose and prevent, but they face hate, lies, deceit and the destruction of several families before the wrecker is due. This warm and entertaining story is solidly written and vividly atmospheric. Reynolds spins a compelling yarn demonstrating that friendship is the only monument that endures in a world where events can go out of control. (July)