What We Reckon

Drug-addled grifters Jack Jordon and Summer Ashton, as they call themselves in Pruitt’s zany, frightening, gritty third Southern noir novel (after 2015’s Hashtag), shed their names and assume new identities every time one of their drug deals goes horribly wrong. They head for Lufkin, Tex., where they plan on scoring big time with the kilo of cocaine Jack has secreted in a hollowed-out Bible. With each change of territory, they “leave their burdens behind” with the certainty that from now on everything will be “roses and sunshine.” Jack and Summer share a commitment to each other based on two simple rules: “cops are the bad guys and we never tell them shit” and “no hospitals... to go to the emergency room is to go to jail.” In Lufkin, the pair encounter drugged-out college boys, a well-intentioned guru, and a platoon of lost teenagers looking for certainty where there is none. The plot rambles, and what happens to the cocaine doesn’t matter much. Assured prose carries the reader along to the shattering and enigmatic ending, which will leave many wondering what really happened earlier in the book—and what will happen in the next installment. (Oct.)