Review | LOUIE by David Mather (Chile)

Fiction

Louie — 5th in the Crescent Beach Series
by David J Mather (Chile 1968– 70)
Peace Corps Writers
August 2022
323 pages
$14.95 (paperback), $7.99 (Kindle)

Reviewed by Dean Jefferson (El Salvador 1974-76 and Costa Rica 1976-77)

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330 pages, 37 short chapters, Louie is another opportunity to enjoy David Mather’s unforgettable characters from Florida’s rural Big Bend region on the gulf coast, also known as the Redneck Riviera. This is another page-turner, leaving you wondering where the time went after spending a couple hours immersed in the story. And the chapters are short enough that you feel like you could read just one more! I strongly recommend that you read the whole five book series starting with Crescent Beach, followed by Raw Dawgin’, then The Biloxi Connection and Gator Bait, then finally this volume. However, this well-written novel also stands on its own very well.

Most of the action takes place in and around the fishing village of Crescent Beach in the Big Bend Area of north Florida, although Boston, New Hampshire, Honduras, and the San Blas Islands off Panama are visited by some of the novel’s characters.

The fishing village’s usual cast of characters provides humor, color, and a glimpse into the old Florida way of life. Included is a wealth of Florida information that varies from worm grunting in Sopchoppy to the state-of-the art navigational system for the Port of Tampa.

People are not always who they seem. Who would think that Louie, the mild-mannered manager of the Crescent Beach marina, had been a big player in a Boston drug smuggling ring? When his past catches up to him, his life is turned upside down.

Rebecca, the teenage darling of Crescent Beach, has earned a full scholarship to Florida State University. Her worst nightmare is realized when the drug dealer from her freshman year in high school resurfaces. If word gets out that she did drugs and stole money to support her habit, her life as a college student, and everything she has worked so hard for, could be ruined.

Simply put, this is a fun read that I’m sure you’ll enjoy. By now the folks of Crescent Beach have become like old friends that I look forward to hearing from again.

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Reviewer D.W. Jefferson was a Peace Corps agriculture volunteer in El Salvador (1974-76) and Costa Rica (1976-77). A blog about his Peace Corps years is at: http://dwjefferson.blogspot.com He is currently retired from a career in computer software engineering.