Book Review: The Distance

Reviewed By: Ellen Garbuny - RAM

The Distance     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Eddie Muller
Class/Genre:   Mystery
Series: Billy Nichols # 1

Wow, what a knock-out of a book. Muller packed pages with poignant punches of setting, time and gritty love and murder. Muller touched on many issues in this book, including illiteracy, abortion, deception, infidelity, and graft and corruption.

The story is told by the narrator, Billy Nichols, a sports journalist, known as Mr. Boxing. Set in the post war 1940's, Muller also alluded to the Japanese internment via the wife of his opponent, Detective Francis O'Conner. Nichols and O'Conner sparred throughout the book.

There was the classic love triangle, actually there were two. This book could be read on the merits of the love stories interwoven with the mystery of who killed Gig Liardi.

The feeling of the time was perfectly portrayed by Muller's choice of language, the reflection of social mores and sport.

Initially wary of reading this book, as I am not interested in boxing, I was quickly caught up in the world of Billy Nichol. He has a history of his own that foreshadowed the choices he made early in the book.

Women's roles in the book were varied. Set in a time when men's status was defined by whether he could provide well, the object of Billy's affection was a woman who worked to support her family. His own wife was a housewife whose ambition was to have a houseful of children. Women defined the relationships with the men in the book.

This book had everything in it. A murder, a love story or two, strong characters, gritty descriptions of boxing, and a wonderful sense of place and time. Highly recommended.

Ellen Garbuny - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Ellen Garbuny - RAM