Hawkins County [DELUXE EDITION] (Paperback)

~ Steven Merrill Ulmen (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A cocky, wise-cracking young Juvenile Probation Officer battles troubled lives and senseless deaths as he establishes a career and finds adventure, friendship, romance, and a new home in Hawkins County. Although fictionalized, this bittersweet story is based on actual people and events in a small, rural county.

But "Hawkins County" is more than a corrections casework study. It is a trip back to the 1970's, and it's all here - the movies, the TV shows, the tunes, the jokes, the humor, the heartache, Vietnam - all the elements that influenced and shaped our lives during the era. "Hawkins County" is for baby-boomers, Vietnam veterans, police officers, sheriff's officials, social workers, youth counselors, probation officers - yes, even juvenile delinquents and others who have found themselves on the wrong side of the law - and everyone else who savors a nostalgic story about life as it happened during the 1970's.

From the Inside Flap

PROLOGUE

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, 'n how many seas must a white dove sail
before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, 'n how wmany times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

Jack Johnson did not hear "Blowin' in the Wind," the Bob Dylan tune, playing on the radio. After all, it was only ten o'clock on Saturday morning so he was still in bed at his folk's place, comfortably enjoying the sleep of the innocent. He didn't plan to get up until noon anyway, since he and Fletch felt obligated to spend the better part of last night hitting the bars to celebrate sliding through his final quarter at the University. Maybe it was best he did not hear the song because it would disturb him if he realized how prophetic it was, how the lyrics applied not only to his life, but to the lives of his friends and to people he had yet to meet. Although he didn't know it, Jack Johnson was about to enter a world that had more questions than answers, and discover what few answers did exist remained elusive, as if they were blowin' in the wind...

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Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: Lulu.com (April 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1411688074
• ISBN-13: 978-1411688070
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #4,120,571 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Round Up Magazine Review, February 8, 2007

By	Matt Ulmen (East Wenatchee) - See all my reviews

This is not a Western, but it is an unusual book that illustrates the changes the 1960s and 70s brought to American culture and law enforcement. Based on the author's own experiences as a juvenile probation officer in rural Hawkins County, Minnesota, the story line traces the coming of age of an immature, cocky probation officer, who learns how to help youngsters caught up in the criminal justice system, and guide them to a more useful life. It is not a happily- ever-after sort of book as Jack Johnson finds his small mistakes handling his juvenile clients can lead to big consequences.

The death of a teenager who is fleeing the police is a sobering experience for Jack. Particularly well drawn is the character of Pat O'Connor, the son of an alcoholic. Pat is avoiding arrest on a warrant for breaking his probation. He avoids drugs and thievery, but runs with a bad crowd. He is sensitive teenager, very protective of his dad, and Jack's goal is to reform Pat's behavior. This is an interesting book for its social commentary and the flavor of the 1970s.

5.0 out of 5 stars An original story told with a humor and candor that holds the readers full and rapt attention from beginning to end, May 8, 2006

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

Pat O'Connor is a juvenile delinquent who, with the aid of his alcoholic father, spends most of his time outrunning the police who have a warrant for his arrest for a probation violation. His gang consists of five other delinquents, including their sociopathic son of Judge Charles Halloran, the Hawkins County Juvenile Court Judge. Can cocky, wise-cracking Juvenile Probation Officer Jack Johnson keep Pat and his buddies from self-destruction? Can he divert any of them from becoming career criminals and long term incarcerated prisoners of the state's penal system? Set in a southern Minnesota rural community and drawing upon his many years of service as a Juvenile Probation officer, Steven Ulmen's debut novel is an original story (but one that could be taken from the ledgers of any juvenile justice system today) told with a humor and candor that holds the readers full and rapt attention from beginning to end.

5.0 out of 5 stars From Jerry Huettl, Public Safety Director, Mankato, MN, April 27, 2006

By	S. M. Ulmen "Steven M. Ulmen" (Mankato, MN USA) - See all my reviews

Steve Ulmen is not new to the world of law enforcement or corrections, having devoted his entire adult life to working with the unfortunate segment of our society that ends up entangled in the criminal justice system. His new novel (HAWKINS COUNTY) draws from life at a time shortly after he started as a probation agent in a small southern Minnesota community. Ulmen was not far removed in age from the central character of the story so the thoughts and words come from a unique perspective. He lays bare many of the reasons for juvenile delinquency in the 1970's and shows how small mistakes can have profound, life-shattering effects on the young people and those around them.

Ulmen works hard in the piece to try to insure accuracy of places, events, slang, and dress. Sometimes he fails, but the fault may be more one of memory than deceit. The writer lived through many changes in how the system treats and deals with criminal offenders. The "get tough" attitudes of the 60's and 70's gave way to more permissive and gentler types of supervision in the 80's and 90's. Once again we see society and the courts demanding treatment of our youthful offenders with an iron fist.

The novel is not about whether the methods used then were right or wrong. Rather, it searches the soul of one young man facing an immovable system and the effects of those encounters. An enjoyable read and a look back into the past, particularly for those of us who lived through it as part of the "system."

NOTE: Jerry Huettl also served as the model for the character of Officer Lowell McCarthy in the novel, and served as an expert consultant on police procedures as detailed in the book.