Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Uncategorized Shelf Life: The Long Division by Derek Nikitas
Posted by Wyatt Williams @wyatt_williams on Tue, Dec 15, 2009 at 9:41 PM
GENRE: Hard boiled interstate crime thriller
THE PITCH: An Atlanta housekeeper, a runaway teenager, a sheriff's deputy, a murderous college student, and the deputy's daughter are brought together by crimes and desperation.
THE DISTINCTION: The Long Division is a crime novel with literary ambitions. Nikitas develops the grim psychology of his characters and draws a lyrical, distinct world for them to exist in.
COLD WORDS: "They were locked inside a moving car with the heat vents gushing, but still the cold was a killer. Midair clusters of snowflakes recurred like fractals, then liquefied on the windshield. Roadside snowbanks stood as tall as the mailboxes they nearly buried. One box had its red flag raised: I surrender, Winter."
EPIGRAPH: Nikitas draws the epigraph and title of "The Long Division" from Death Cab for Cutie's track "Long Division." For someone trying to bring literary ambition to his genre, the decision to put cheesy emo lyrics at the front of this novel is bewildering.
HOT STEEL: "The old butcher backstepped and sagged and fired a shell that burst a cone of buckshot across the tabletop and tore splintered wood. The Mex caught the outer arc of pellets in a red-tipped pointillist's canvas on his shirtfront."
HYPE: "Any subject Derek handles, channeled through the lens of his unique sensibility, is likely to be of unusual worth and interest." - Joyce Carol Oates
RAP SHEET: Nikitas' first novel, Pyres, was nominated for an Edgar Award and his short story writing for The Ontario Review was nominated for a Pushcart. Currently an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Eastern Kentucky University, Nikitas earned his MFA from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. He is currently a PhD candidate at Georgia State University.
THE SHORT VERSION: The Long Division is exponentially better than the trite stuff clogging up the crime genre, though it still depends on some tired contrivances. Crime fans will be pleased. Lit snobs should wait for the shot that Nikitas fires off next.
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