The Dart League King: A Novel (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: dart league, dart night, asshole father, Vince Thompson, Russell Harmon, Brice Habersham (more...)

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.)
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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

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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)

Customer Reviews

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

By	Jeffrey C. Swenson "Timberlane" (Garrettsville, OH USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't put it down!, September 18, 2008

By	S. Beyer (idaho) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quick-paced and enjoyable, May 7, 2009

By	P. Barrett Coleman (Richmond, VA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.