Chris Saxton is not having an easy childhood.  His father, Wrendon  is a alcoholic and womanizer and doesn’t come home for days at a time.  His mother doesn’t really know how to cope and is afraid to divorce him.  What if she can’t find someone else?

Hustle opens with Chris at ten years old, working at Wrendon’s seafood shop counter after school, because he is too young to stay home alone and his mother works.  One day a guy comes into the shop and offers up his old beaten guitar for sale and Wrendon buys it for Chris and teaches him a bit.

Soon Wrendon gets a call that his father, Buddy is in trouble.  He has been slipping ever since his wife dies.   Wrendon  throws a couple of things into his van, along with Chris to drive from Texas  to Florida, without so much as a note to his wife.  He does call her later that night.  

Once at Buddies, Wrendon puts his l La-Z-Boy chair in the back of the van and uses duct tape to secure the passed out Buddy to it.  Then they head back home.  Once Buddy comes too and starts shouting to let him go, Wrendon sends Chris in the back to help Buddy drink a beer.  This is to ease him off the whisky he’s been drinking.

Chris’s mom finally does leave Wrendon and re-marries but doesn’t make Chris’s life any better.  It’s actually worse.  Chris tries to cope as best he can and struggles to find rehearsal time with his band.  He dreams of making it to the big time some day.

This is a heart wrenching debut novel by Jason Skipper.  It is a well written coming of age and family saga.  The scene in the van with Buddy and the duct tape was both funny but really sad.  Who exposes their 10 year old kid with harsh realities of alcoholism and makes him feed beer to someone?  Yet, this book is very believable.  The characters are well drawn out and we get to know them warts and all.

There was just one place where I thought the story got a little repetitious but otherwise, this book hit a home run for me.

4/5
Thanks to Caitlin Hamilton Marketing & Publicity,LLC
for sending me this book. 

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