THREADING THE NEEDLE

Reynolds's latest addition to his Sandhill Chronicles pays tribute to the legacy of James Dean and the glory days of drag racing, telling the heartfelt story of a North Texas racer whose legend dominates a small town in the post-WWII era. Bobby Dean is the bad boy with a fast car who makes his reputation by winning races out on "the Loop," a drag strip the local teenagers carve out on the edge of town. Dean's most famous trick is called "threading the needle," a modified version of chicken involving a narrow, tunnel-like stretch of highway. Dean bullies his challengers with this maneuver until football player Tommy Golden comes back from the war to take on Dean in a race that kills both young men. But several residents continue to sense Dean's presence on the Loop in a series of lurid scenes that also feature ghostly drag racers recreating their finest battles. Inspired by these visions, young Keith Littlefield challenges Dean's ghost to a duel and loses his life battling Dean's imaginary car. Littlefield's sister, Sherry, then assumes his mantle, restoring her brother's wrecked Mustang and going after Dean in a final race to put the deadly ghost to rest. Reynolds's storytelling shines, especially in the novel's first half, where he makes plain his love of dragsters, rock music and '50s youth culture. But the ghost subplot reads like something from a bad horror movie, and the drag-racing scenes eventually lose their thrill. Reynolds's setup is solid, but his tale flags down the stretch. (June)