November 2003
The King Is Dead
The King Is Dead (Knopf), Austinite Jim Lewis's sterling novel of politics, race, fidelity, and regret, is a model of literary economy. In an epicworthy tale packed into a brisk 260 pages, Walter Selby, a top aide to Tennessee's governor, wrestles with the dodgy ethics of political life and the toll it takes on his marriage; his breakdown—inevitable and violent—becomes a mystery for his son to crack. Lewis dredges up the dirty secrets behind his characters' public faces, not gratuitously, but to reveal their true nature. This is grand fiction.
The King Is Dead: Jim Lewis, published by Knopf.
