This is a riveting, boys to men coming of age story that you will find hard to put down. There is something interesting happening on every page and Davidson tells the story with humourous insight and details are easy to relate to. Highly recommended!

Canadian writer and St Catharines native Craig Davidson tells a compelling story set in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Through winding flashbacks we follow Owen and Duncan from childhood through the vicissitudes of adult life. They don’t have it easy… And so Owen and Duncan hand off their bad luck like a relay baton, through high school and the short plateaus of their twenties. Their alternating narration works well to illustrate the Rashomon nature of male friendship, how stubbornness can be mistakenly read for confidence, how youthful slights can balloon into years of avoidance. Owen will pursue glory on the basketball court and even get out of Cataract City for a spell. Duncan attempts to settle down with the older and wiser Edwina, work at the Bisk, and resist the gravitational pull of local kingpin Lemuel Drinkwater. It doesn’t go well. (Barnes & Noble review)