The Drifter's Wheel

by Phillip DePoy

Book Overview

"DePoy, a folklorist, excels at providing local color and creating complex characters. The story unfolds slowly and lyrically, giving readers a sense of small-town Appalachian atmosphere." Booklist on... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 031236203X
• ISBN13: 9780312362034
• Release Date: June 2008
• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Length: 276 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.1" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

His Best Yet!

The Drifter's Wheel is Phillip Depoy's best novel yet, I believe. Having read all of his previous novels including those in the Flap Tucker series I think Mr. Depoy has produced his most engaging novel. Being intimately familiar with life in the academic environment, he brings expert knowledge of that milieu to his stories. Also, culturally, reading one of Depoy's books is like making a visit to the North Georgia Hill Country. This novel is very well written and beware, because you will be through it before you realize it. The plot zips along and the characterization is excellent as usual for Depoy. If you enjoy reading about warm characters who although not perfect do their best, I highly recommend this book.

I think I am addicted....

...to this series. First, I enjoy almost anything set in Appalachia. Second, Mr. DePoy uses a mix of humor, darkness, history and folklore to show what this region is all about. I appreciate his story lines and plots and always look forward to the next Fever Devilin mystery.

Lyrical and evocative; and a good mystery - Loved it!

First Sentence: "The gun exploded, blood erupted, and Jabod lay dying on the brothel floor." Folklorist Fever Devlin receives a visit from a man who is young in appearance but claims he is over 100 years old, and a veteran of the Civil War, whose uniform he is wearing and with a gun from the same period. He tells Fe...more THE DRIFTER'S WHEEL (Trad. Mys-Fever Devlin-Georgia-Cont) - Ex DePoy, Phillip - 5th in series St. Martin's Minotaur, 2008, US Hardcover - ISBN: 9780312362034 First Sentence: "The gun exploded, blood erupted, and Jabod lay dying on the brothel floor." Folklorist Fever Devlin receives a visit from a man who is young in appearance but claims he is over 100 years old, and a veteran of the Civil War, whose uniform he is wearing and with a gun from the same period. He tells Fever a story about traveling on the stream of time and of brother killing brother, then falls asleep sitting in the chair. Devlin calls his friend, Sherrif Skidmore, turns back and the man has vanished. In the morning, he is called to identify a body found on the Jackson property. The body is wearing the right clothes, looks very similar to the missing man, but isn't the same one. The coroner wants to declare it a suicide but Devlin and Skidmore know it was murder. Deviln, with the help of his English friend, Professor Dr. Winton Andrews, has 48 hours to find the killer. DePoy has a wonderful, lyrical, evocative, haunting style. The story captured me from the first sentence. He has a way of describing the ordinary in a way that is extraordinary. His observations are both humorous and profound. The sense of place is so strong; you are there with the characters. The characters are so well developed, you can see and hear them. The dialogue has a wonderful flow and banter, particularly between the two friends, Fever and Andrews, about whom you also learn more of their history. One thing I so enjoy about DePoy's writing is that it reads on several levels while being filled with thoughtfulness and humor. There is the mystery of the murder; the relationships of the characters; and the thoughts of "time travel," memories and what holds us to life. All these elements combine to make an excellent story and one that made me think.

6th entry in Fever Devlin series another beautifully told tale

The Drifter's Wheel by Phillip DePoy is the sixth book in his fabulous Fever Devlin series. Fever was a college professor teaching about folk tales when in a political mess he lost his position. Fever returned home to Blue Mountain, Georgia and has been running into murders and strange doings ever since. It's gotten so that every time a dead body shows up, people look to Fever for answers. I absolutely adore this mystery series. It's unusual in its love for things past. Fever is a a bit obsessed with folk tales and songs, so bits and pieces of them tend to bleed into every investigation. He an an encyclopedic knowledge, and what he doesn't know, good friend Shakespearean professor Winton Andrews does. Every exchange between these two friends is a treasure. In this story, a man claiming to be over a hundred years old shows up in Fever's home one night with a strange story about brothers killing brothers and the creation of the Tango. Fever is fascinated at first and then frightened when the man starts waving a gun. When Fever calls the police, the man disappears into the night, only to turn up dead the next morning. But the body doesn't look exactly like the intruder, so Fever and Andrews are off to investigate one hundred years of fratricide. DePoy's descriptions of the landscape are lyrical, and the mystery, as usual, raises more questions than it answers.

thought provoking, but haunting regional amateur sleuth

In Georgia Appalachia, an odd stranger calls on folklorist Fever Devilin. The young man is a ball of nervous passionate energy as he relates his story to Devilin. Unable to sit quietly, he insists he is a century old and fervently begins telling Devilin about his past as he claims to have survived gas warfare in the European trenches during WWI and learning to tango following a murder At Madam Biscoe's House in the Windy City. Soon after his fervor slows down a bit he pulls out a gun, but falls into a deep sleep in the middle of some rant. Devilin assumes the sleeping stranger is either on drugs or simply loco so he calls the sheriff, who tells him he has received similar calls; however before Skid reaches Fever's home, the vagrant vanishes. The next morning the murdered corpse of a drifter, wearing the identical clothes as Fever's visitor, is found. Devilin needs to know if the victim was his strange storyteller so he investigates the homicide. The latest Devilin regional amateur sleuth is not an easy read as the stranger is so abnormal with his rant, his gun, and his abrupt nap he is frightening yet so real. While totally disturbing the reader, he also absorbs the audience like he did Devilin with a need to know the truth of who he is, how he got to this point in which his sanity is questioned, and is he dead; if not who is. THE DRIFTER'S WHEEL is thought provoking, gripping and well written, but haunting as this tale will stay with readers long afterward. Harriet Klausner