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The Dart League King: A Novel
 
 
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The Dart League King: A Novel (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: dart league, dart night, asshole father, Vince Thompson, Russell Harmon, Brice Habersham (more...)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)

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  • This item: The Dart League King: A Novel by Keith Lee Morris

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. In this absorbing and intelligent novel, Morris (The Greyhound God) follows five characters through a handful of hours culminating in a dart contest on a Thursday night in Garnet Lake, Idaho: Russell Harmon, who lives for the dart league and his cocaine habit; teammate Tristan Mackey, who is haunted by having not prevented the drowning of a classmate; Kelly Ashton, who wants desperately for someone to rescue her and her young daughter from this small town; Russell's darts rival Brice Habersham, a DEA agent posing as the owner of a gas station; and drug dealer Vince Thompson, who, tonight, is carrying a 9mm Beretta to his meeting with Russell. As each chapter shifts from one voice to the next, Morris cranks up the tension so that by the time the dart match arrives, the book is impossible to put down. Morris explores how even the most banal choices we make—to get in the car or not?—can have a life-altering impact. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From Booklist

*Starred Review* This sensitive, cleverly constructed novel of small-town life and big-league dreams follows a cast of five in the hours leading up to a Thursday night dart contest. Russell Harmon, painfully aware of his unsuitability for the logging work that is the economic mainstay of Garnet Lake, Idaho, is banking all his self-esteem on retaining his title of Dart League King, although he has a couple of obstacles in his way. He owes a lot of money to the local drug dealer, the incredibly bad tempered Vince Thompson, who could very well show up at the big contest with a 9mm Beretta. Russell is facing a formidable opponent in Brice Habersham, who recently bought the town’s gas station and was, at one time, a professional dart player. Even more distracting is the fact that intellectual college grad and fellow teammate Tristan Mackey has shown up with town hottie Kelly Ashton, Russell’s old love. Secrets and surprises are revealed as the narrative shifts among the five voices, injecting the culminating chapters with an almost unbearable tension. All the while, Morris continues to draw a subtle, near flawless portrait of the unique ways that small-town life can both nurture and suffocate its residents. --Joanne Wilkinson

Product Details

  • Paperback: 210 pages
  • Publisher: Tin House Books; 1st U.S. Ed edition (October 1, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0979419883
  • ISBN-13: 978-0979419881
  • Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 4.9 x 1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #458,724 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Keith Lee Morris
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Customer Reviews

15 Reviews
5 star:
 (8)
4 star:
 (5)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (15 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Buyer's Remorse, January 11, 2009
I always find myself more critical of books I simply pull off the shelf in the bookstore. It's as if they owe me more for their being picked at random, as if their cover were false advertising if they don't sing in my hands. It was with this in mind that I was first skeptical of The Dart League King. Morris' premise is all well and good: small-town guy Russell Harmon lays his self worth on his performance in one dart match with a former dart champion.

But then came the clichés. Russell snorts cocaine on the first page, and reveals his debt to a small-time drug dealer by the third. He lives in his mother's basement and can't hold a steady job. His ex-girlfriend walks into the bar, and Russell repeatedly compares her breasts to grapefruits. By the end of the first chapter I was ready to see if I could return the book to Barnes & Noble, get my money back.

I read on, however, and got hooked. Dart League King is a thriller wearing the bulky overcoat of literary fiction, and once you get past Morris' need to overwrite, it's an entertaining read. The intersections between his characters--one an anal-retentive DEA agent, the next a lovingly psychotic drug dealer--are real and well rendered.

Two elements of the novel left me unsettled long after I put the book down. The first is a gratuitous subplot about a recent college grad embarking on a career as a serial killer. The second is Morris' seeming inability to convincingly write female characters. Beyond the attractive young woman at the bar (she sleeps with two characters in the course of the novel), the only other women here are an all-but-faceless drowning victim and a sexless shrew of a wife. If Morris can write complex and interesting male characters, he ought to give the reader a bit more with his female ones.

All in all, I am glad I picked Dart League King off the shelf. I recommend you do as well, though I can't guarantee you won't suffer some buyer's remorse.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't put it down!, September 18, 2008
Morris once again creates characters that are so true and real that it's scarey. From the first pages you become wrapped up in each of these very real characters' lives. The story takes place in one life altering night. All the characters fates are interwoven creating a suspense that builds steadily until the final chapters when you can't put it down. This novel would make an excellent suspense movie!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Quick-paced and enjoyable, May 7, 2009
I had many of the similar concerns that other reviewers had with this book; within the beginning pages, it seemed the author was adding superficial depth to the characters. After all, within the first 3 pages, someone was all ready doing a line of coke in the bathroom. The book didn't really seem real because of this.

After about 50 pages, that all changed for me. Each chapter is told through the view point of a certain character within a small town, and with each passing chapter, the characters grow and become more intricate than what it seemed like in the first few pages.

This book is in-between a fast-paced read as well as reflective commentary on the loneliness in our lives. The author does a good job of combining both to make it not only a book hard to put down, but one that allows for real connection with the characters.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Multidimensional Tale
The Dart League King is an engaging story, right from the beginning. All four of the main characters are at the same time repulsive and appealing. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Clifford Garstang

5.0 out of 5 stars Well-crafted story, gripping writing
I was up 'til 1am racing through to the epilogue of this well-crafted novel. This story is told primarily through the inner monologues of four central characters, and the device... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Ken

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it.
Brief summary, no spoilers.

The Dart King in the title, is a character named Russell Harmon. Russell lacks ambition in all things except dart throwing. Read more
Published 4 months ago by sb-lynn

3.0 out of 5 stars Good but not great
I picked up The Dart League King randomly on a "new author" shelf. At first I couldn't put the book down, but as the story dragged on and meandered here and there I found it more... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Benjamin W. Silvis

4.0 out of 5 stars Almost a Bullseye
The Dart League King is a mostly well-written novel that grows increasingly suspenseful and fast paced as the reader progresses through the book. Read more
Published 8 months ago by MrKingsford

5.0 out of 5 stars A Dart Player's Review of The Dart League King
This is a review from my blog, New Jersey Darts:

[...]
It is narrowly focused on one aspect of the book of particular interest to dart players... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Kevin Liebkemann

5.0 out of 5 stars great book
I think this was a great book. The characterizations were fabulous. I really liked the different points of view presented and was hooked on the story. Read more
Published 9 months ago by frank c.

5.0 out of 5 stars fine
Morris writes of several inhabitants of Garnet Lake, Idaho: Russell, the title character; Kelly, mother of Russell's child; Vince, Russell's cocaine connection; Brice, a DEA... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Thomas A. Liese

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Believable Characters
Morris has a real gift for breathing life into characters. He achieves this by giving them very human aspiration and even more human limitations. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Frank Paul Venis

5.0 out of 5 stars Packs a powerful punch
I picked this book up because I was so impressed with the writing in the early pages. After 50 pp, I was almost ready to give up on it. Read more
Published 10 months ago by John Luiz

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