Almost nothing is likable about this book, yet there is everything to like. In Gritton’s remarkable debut, he chronicles rotten Shelley, a lowdown, mean son of a bitch. Full of calamity and drama, Wyoming is a compelling story about the rural, poor mountain west in the late 80s. Shelley, fired from his job for stealing, agrees to run drugs south for his brother. Things do not go as planned. He’s not an honorable man, nor does he change his way. It’s one wrong decision after another. It's an intense read, about an unlikable man who doesn’t learn from his mistakes. It’s straightforward and unsentimental, well worth a read if you don’t mind the misery.

WYOMING by author J.P. Gritton is the story of Shelley, a younger man who comes from a difficult past that makes his chance at happiness and success in the future seem unlikely with the perception others have of him, and the bleak prospects available to him.

Shelley lacks options and is without other lucrative possibilities, so he finds himself entangled in a drug deal that goes wrong that his older brother hired him to deliver the product.

Clayton is Shelley’s older brother who has spent 5 years in jail previously and while he’s a criminal, he’s a loving husband and father, which is also true of his lifelong best friend Mike.

Sovereign is the name of Jack’s 6 year old son who he hasn’t seen for 5 of those years, and his ex-wife and her husband now call him Jack, which doesn’t set well with Shel since it was the boy’s grandfather’s name although he can’t very well object due to his absence in the boy’s life.

Can Jack find a way to mend the broken relationships in his life in addition to atoning for his part in the drugs being lost which has caused his brother an enormous financial setback?

Rough story that doesn’t add a lot of sunshine into the life of Shelley or his friends and family, and while I’m a fan of rural “hick-lit” type novels that include characters often in a hopeless existence, this was a hard one to read at times as the leading character doesn’t seem to have a clue of how to relate to others and especially those he’s closest to.

4 stars (even though this is another example of the need for both Net Galley and Goodreads to include half stars as there is a large gap between a 3 and 4 star rating).

This book did not float my boat. I thought it would, but I could not even finish it. Maybe it was too gritty for my taste, or maybe I was in the wrong mood for this type of book.

Shelley Cooper is a narrator without boundaries. His has been a life of missed chances and bad choices, and yet there are a few who cut him some slack seemingly without cause. At a particularly loose end, he goes on a mission for his absolutely horrible brother (I must admit to never understanding why these errands exist except to set up a plot point, but then, maybe it's a guy-thing). And yet I admit being somewhat fascinated at his style as he spools his yarn in clear prose. No, he may not be "likeable" as others have claimed, but he's all too human and who hasn't made a few choices they've regretted.