Unexpectedly, I got behind with book club comments about our selections so I'm catching up now. The September selection was The Body in the Record Room by Joe Barone. Set in 1954 at a Missouri mental hospital, an assertive patient discovers a body in the facility's record room and begins his own investigation of the death. Here's a photo of author Barone from his blog under "Crimeplace: a place for readers and writers of crime fiction to meet." At this point, he appears to participate in blogs instead of having a website.
With the assistance of a fellow patient and an outside contact, the patient actually makes strides in this endeavour without outwardly upsetting established practices. And the patient does have a name--he goes by "Roy Rogers" after his idol, the cowboy movie star.
The book club had a very good discussion about the novel and it covered a range of topics. Mainly though, the book takes a major turn in the storyline which is only slyly hinted in book descriptions and reviews. That being the case, I'll keep that big plot line quiet here too.
Otherwise, our comments include the following:
- the novel has its share of bad acts by characters but the author plays fair by finding fault all around
- Roy has genuine mental issues but he is able to keep them at bay while focused on his investigations
- Roy also has a unique ability to move around the grounds with the ease of being undetected and getting the trust of necessary allies
- the manner which the town hosting this mental facility appears to benefit from the operation but isolates it.
As I recall, we all found the book a worthwhile read.
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