All Hat: A Novel [Paperback]

Brad Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2004

Just out of prison for attacking the man who assaulted his sister, Ray Dokes heads back to the small town where he was raised. Vowing to lie low, he moves in with Pete Culpepper, a Texas cowboy who has always been a grounding influence on Ray, but whose debts are growing faster than his corn. Between roofing houses and watching Pete's nine-year-old gelding at the races, Ray soon develops a plan to con his sister's attacker, a local heir to an electronics fortune and a know-nothing horse breeder, out of a considerable chunk of money. Surprisingly poignant yet laugh- out-loud funny, All Hat tells a classic story of little guys fighting big guys and reaffirming the meaning of honesty and friendship--and second chances--in the process.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Smith (One-Eyed Jacks) serves up a fast-paced, wickedly funny tale of revenge in his second novel (and U.S. debut), set in a close-knit farming community in Ontario. Ray Dokes, nearing 40, has just spent several years in prison for assaulting Sonny Stanton, the thuggish young heir to a billion-dollar fortune who raped Dokes's sister. Dokes returns to his hometown and manages to steer clear of Stanton, who has several underhanded financial schemes going, the nastiest being an attempt to buy up local farms, then use the land to develop a race track as a showcase for the thoroughbreds of Stanton Stables. Dokes quietly settles into his new life as a roofer and helps his friend Pete Culpepper to breed horses in his spare time. Romance returns to Dokes's life when Culpepper hires a sexy young jockey named Chrissie to race his low-end thoroughbreds, but even as their liaison plays out, it's clear that Dokes pines for a local woman called Etta, whose farm is one of Stanton's prime targets. As Stanton's development plan gets underway, the townsfolk increasingly turn against him and, in spite of his admirable attempts to turn the other cheek, Dokes once again finds himself at the center of a showdown with the spoiled scion. Smith's neatly executed climax takes place at a horse race involving Sonny's steeds and a ringer Dokes introduces to get back at his arch rival. The novel offers a well-drawn ensemble cast and wry, memorable observations. Smith is a top-notch storyteller, and though some of the plot points are familiar and the ending too tidy, readers will be charmed.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* "The gelding had character and a heart as big as a washtub. He was never destined to be anything more than a ten-thousand-dollar claimer, but that didn't change the fact that he had heart. It was something you couldn't take from him." Ex-con Ray Dokes, just out of prison and trying to live a "half-ass normal life," is talking about a racehorse with a broken leg, but he could just as well be describing himself, or for that matter, this rollicking romp of a novel--except that the book, unlike the horse, has legs enough to run with the big boys. Ray gives half-ass normality his best shot, taking a job roofing houses in rural Ontario, but soon he's concocting a scheme to con local thug Sonny Stanton--the man who raped Ray's sister--out of some of the money Stanton has swindled in various crooked land deals. The scam, involving swapping horses before a big race, proves fascinating on its own, but it's the cast of delightfully eccentric, if not downright loopy, characters who drive the story. Surrounding Ray are Pete Culpepper, a Texas horseman and owner of the gelding with the broken leg; Chrissie, Pete' s foul-mouthed jockey, who, beneath the bravado, has a fair-sized washtub heart of her own; and Etta, Ray's former lover, whose home is about to fall prey to Stanton's land grab. On the other side of the fence, along with Stanton, are a couple of bumbling hired hands who seem to have wandered in from an Elmore Leonard novel. (Dean, one of the bumblers, an ersatz cowboy with illusions of grandeur, earns the epithet "all hat and no cattle.") Canadian author Smith has marvelous control of his material, effortlessly mixing laugh-out-loud comedy with streaks of country noir that call to mind Daniel Woodrell. This is Smith's first novel to be published in the U.S., and it's the best American crime-fiction debut since C. W. Box's Open Season. Bill Ott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Picador (April 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312423179
• ISBN-13: 978-0312423179
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #161,221 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 'All' in good fun., September 8, 2005

By 

Robert P. Beveridge "xterminal" (Lakewood, OH) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: All Hat: A Novel (Hardcover)

Brad Smith, All Hat (Henry Holt, 2003)

I've always rather thought of Henry Holt as a textbook publisher, but somewhere along the line they started publishing fiction. Every once in a while they pop up with a truly notable book, such as Bruce Olds' Raising Holy Hell or Kathe Koja's Kink. Well, now you can add Brad Smith's All Hat to the list.

All Hat is a story about progress, when it comes right down to it. On the surface, it's about Ray Dokes, a Canadian cowboy who gets out of jail after doing two years of a five-year bit for assault (justified, of course, because Dokes is the story's protagonist). He gets out, of course, just as things are about to change in the three-miles-west-of-nothing where he and his acquaintances reside. Sonny Stanton, the guy Dokes assaulted, has been buying up all the area's farms, save that of Homer Parr, an old man with Alzheimer's whose daughter, Dokes' former girlfriend, won't sell. Stanton also has a horse good enough to go to the Breeders' Cup Classic, handled by a sour old trainer, a flashy good-for-nothing roustabout, and a quiet, industrious boy whom everyone thinks is a tad slow. There's also Dokes' sister, who sits and paints the same landscape over and over; Pete, Dokes' friend, boarder, and sometime employer, who wants nothing more than to go back to Texas; Chrissie, the loudmouthed but pretty jock who rides Pete's remaining thoroughbred in training; and a cast of minor characters just as full of vinegar. All of this, of course, has to change in any novel that's really about progress (well, with the quizzical exception of a few characters who seem incapable of changing; there's an interesting trend in who changes and who doesn't, but I don't want to spoil your fun).

This is a fun little novel that got mostly overlooked when it originally came out. (It was recommended to me through the fraternity of racing fans, and god bless 'em, they were right.) Should be easily found in paperback these days; give it a look. A quick read that's laugh-out-loud funny in a few spots. *** ½

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully Flawed Characters, Horses, And Hats, August 9, 2003

By 

Louis N. Gruber "Author of Jay" (Lexington, SC United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: All Hat: A Novel (Hardcover)

Ray Dokes has just returned from two years in prison, and is trying to stay out of trouble. He finds some work as a roofer, bunks with his old friend and mentor, Pete Culpepper, tries to patch things up with his old flame, Etta. The scene is a rural community in decline, a community of failing farms and horse-racing, dominated by Stanton Stables. And the heir to Stanton Stables is Sonny, a man of greed and entitlement and a bullying temperament, who is Ray Dokes' nemesis.

There is no finely crafted plot here. The characters try to survive and get ahead, engage in harebrained schemes, drink far too much, do some really bad things, and plot against Sonny. So what will happen? Will Sonny get what he so richly deserves? Will Etta lose her farm to the Stanton Empire? Will Ray go back to prison? You will have to read the book to find out. The beauty of this novel is in the characters. Canadian author Brad Smith is a genius at characterization. He creates a whole community of flawed but real people-losers, down-and-outers, and survivors-and one great villain-out of simple materials-gestures, turns of speech, and-most of all-hats. Horses, too, every one of them a real personage. Every one of these characters becomes real, complex and likeable in spite of their shortcomings. Even Sonny gets a little sympathy, but not much.

The bleak atmosphere of a declining farm community is beautifully evoked. The sadness of broken relationships and lost opportunities is deeply moving. Yet life goes on, somehow, and no one can say what the future will bring. All Hat is a must read. I cannot recommend it too highly. Reveiwed by Louis N. Gruber.

4.0 out of 5 stars Hats off for "All Hat", October 1, 2010

By 

Diana Dickerson - See all my reviews
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This review is from: All Hat: A Novel (Paperback)

It is a fun, quick read. On the more serious side, I enjoyed the examination of the fallout due to changing times and values.