The Lime Twig

But it would be unfair to the reader to reveal what happens

when a gang of professional crooks gets wind of the scheme and moves to

muscle in on this bettors' dream of a long-odds situation. Worked out

with all the meticulous detail, terror, and suspense of a nightmare, the

tale is, on one level, comparable to a Graham Greene thriller; on

another, it explores a group of people, their relationships fears, and

loves. For as Leslie A. Fiedler says in his introduction, "John Hawkes..

. makes terror rather than love the center of his work, knowing all the

while, of course, that there can be no terror without the hope for love

and love's defeat . . . ."