TWELVE TREES is one of the more original ideas for a book to come from the fine folks at Canadian publisher Dundurn. There is barely a real plot to follow in J.D. Carpenter’s tome, but that is not the point of the story, about former racing writer Priam Harvey.
He spends his day sitting on the corner stool of his favorite bar, McCully’s Tavern, where he whiles away the day going through the racing forms and betting with the local bookies. That’s it in a nutshell, so if you’re expecting some glorious bank robbery or shootout, go elsewhere. It’s really about a man reflecting on his life as he tries to win a few bucks to last the day and pay back his lady friend from whom he “borrowed” some money.
But as slim as that sounds, it will suck the reader in as though you are hanging out with Harvey as his day progresses. He tells stories of his past and the old-timers who used to be the big men on the racetrack scene. With Carpenter’s depictions, you get the sense that you are there, witnessing the goings-on yourself, never feeling like an outsider looking in. All the characters are three-dimensional, rather than just some cutouts used to dress up the atmosphere.
Everyone is very distinct with his own story, but it’s Harvey who is telling it, so you get only his side. We learn how he was let go from his job as a reporter for a track magazine, and about the people he had to deal with on a daily basis. Each chapter covers a different race, with the buildup being the final results.
All the while, we learn of Harvey’s passion for the track and how he can’t deal with horses with squished names (for you track novices, here’s a prime example: StarryStarryNight) or, even worse, the constant badgering of other gamblers who want to know what he thinks of a particular horse. But what really makes him mad are when folks gloat about their winnings and putting on airs that they try and act blue-collar, only to show off with a term or two that reveals their true education.
As the day goes on, a problem arises with a drunk who threatens the bartender, only to come back later with his pal. Both are recent ex-cons who make trouble for this little group of gamblers and rummies. At the closing of the day, Harvey makes a major decision in his life which not only affects him, but the people he seems to care about.
Again, let me stress this is not a pure crime story, even though it’s a spin-off from Carpenter’s Campbell Young series, in which Harvey is a character. Campbell makes an appearance in TWELVE TREES, but is not around when it all comes to a head. That’s fine because this story is really about one man reflecting on his life choices and how he thinks he’ll be able to correct slowly in the future.
This novel will probably slip through the cracks of most readers, but it shouldn’t, since Carpenter has created the gambler’s equivalent to other books of reminiscing men. One hopes that Harvey will actually go through what he plans on doing at the end of this fascinating look at lives that normally don’t get their say in literature of this type. —Bruce Grossman
