- Paperback: 288 pages
- Publisher: One World/Ballantine; Reprint edition (Nov 11 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0345443489
- ISBN-13: 978-0345443489
- Product Dimensions: 20.9 x 14.3 x 1.6 cm
- Shipping Weight: 249 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,346,998 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Ridley (Stray Dogs) leads readers into the lurid, violent world of modern-day hobos and rail riders in this taut, riveting murder mystery. Charles Hanson left his middle-class L.A. life to become Brain Nigger Charlie, a free-spirited hobo who knows every trick in the book when it comes to surviving in the brutal world of rail riding. But even Charlie is challenged when his friend's niece Corina drops out of high school to ride the rails, only to find herself caught in a world of drug smuggling, gangs and violent thugs. Charlie's quest to find her starts with an encounter with Kessler, a neo-Nazi gang lord who has enslaved Corina as a drug mule. She manages to escape, and as Charlie races Kessler to find her, he picks up more information on her whereabouts from a sympathetic cop named Haxton Boole, who intervenes on Charlie's behalf when he is picked up and tortured by an FBI agent after a battle with Kessler's men. Charlie soon learns that the girl has hooked up with a Hispanic serial killer. After a brief trip to L.A. to revisit his old life (in the course of which he discovers that his wife has taken off), he heads to the Pacific Northwest for a deadly showdown. Ridley's terse, electric prose captures the subculture of modern-day rail riders, and the suspense level remains high throughout.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Library Journal
Charles Harmon was living the American dream great job, wonderful wife, nice house in the suburbs until his psychosis ruined everything. Now he has been transformed into Brain Nigger Charlie, a tramp riding the rails and digging through trash to find his next meal. When a fellow tramp asks Charlie to help him locate his teenaged niece, who has herself begun riding the rails, Charlie decides to honor his friend's plea. His efforts quickly draw attention not only from the law but also from less savory characters, including a white supremacist organization using the trains to run drugs. At the same time, there's a serial murderer traveling the rails, endangering Charlie even further. Ridley's writing resonates with truth and humor, and to his credit he doesn't romanticize the life of the tramp, depicting instead its ugly reality. Charlie's illness and quick descent into his current state are also handled with blunt honesty. Another excellent effort from the talented author of Stray Dogs and Love Is a Racket, this belongs in public libraries. Craig Shufelt, Lane P.L., Fairfield, OH
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good Start, Great Middle, Lousy Finish,
By Mi-Mi (Washington DC) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Drift (Paperback)
The Drift started out wonderful. It has charachters you can relate to, you sympathize with, get involved with. They evolve the deeper you get into the book. I even took a liking to his stick that became his "right hand man" so to speak. But the ending sucked!!! To have gone all that way, risked life and limb, laid up in hospital three times, just for his friend to respond the way he did when Charlie told him his neice was dead and he killed her....I almost screamed. No wonder he lived on the rails...you'd have to be crazy to do all of that.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Ride the rails,
By
This review is from: The Drift (Paperback)
Not many books have a hobo as a hero, this does. Bleak and unique, you will be introduced to a view not seen before.
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Darkside in Us All,
By Readers Paradise "Book Club" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Drift (Hardcover)
The Drift had very little to do with the rails and everything to do with the directions we take in life and the fingerprints we leave behind. It is said that some of us are a paycheck away from being homeless. After reading, John Ridley's latest book I conclude insanity is one issue away from humanity with a little political help.Riding the rails of life, I gather is a metaphor for the government we live in. That same government/life Charlie wanted to escape. The bureaucracy that [attacked] and tormented him until he found a protector; he affectionately named George Plimpton which he kept close. Born as Charles Harmon he incarnated himself as Brain Nigger Charlie. Brain Nigger feels indebted to Chocolate Walt, when he asks Brain to find his niece. Without a second thought, Brain leaves for his journey. A journey in which he finds more then he bargains for. John Ridley did a superb job of impregnating us with a different theory regarding the government and riding the rails. This book is truly a must read by all.
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