An action packed. adventure of revenge and justice. The prose is atmospheric, capturing the essence of the sea and sailing. I loved the cast of quirky characters that Matt encountered along the way.
Many thanks toBlack Rose Writing and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Troy Hollan’s Clucked is about three-quarters travelogue and one-quarter romance/mystery. It has a great mix of characters, a variety of settings that made me jealous, and a fun and funny climax. I read an advance copy provided by the author, but this review is freely given because I enjoyed it so much.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC
Matt's nautical adventure with his dog Hank takes him on a journey of healing after the death of his beloved wife due to negligence of Colonel Clyde Clawson. While sailing, he runs across others fouled by the practices of Clawson's Chicken. He and his new friends set out to take of Clawson’s together.

Two years ago, Matt lost his wife to an asleep-at-the-wheel truck driver for the corrupt Clawson Chicken Corporation. Matt heads out on a boat trip trying to out-sail bad memories and find a path forward. During his adventure, he meets many interesting characters who strangely also have a connection with the Clawson corporation— eventually, his new and old friends work together with him to fight back against the corporation.

This book explores the grieving process as well as relevant environmental issues and rings reminiscent of Erin Brockovich — I was more interested in the main character and his adventures and healing process — than the conspiracy of the Clawson chicken. I enjoyed the writing style and the characters are likable.


Thanks to Netgalley and Black Rose Publishing for this ARC.

This charming nautical adventure is populated by an affable cast of characters and delivers genuine insights into the grieving process while thoroughly entertaining the reader. As the plot becomes increasingly complex, the realism fades away to maximize the drama, and the protagonist never really runs into much opposition that isn't immediately relieved by an ally's intervention. Clucked only superficially explores the environmental issues mentioned in the book, but the author demonstrates real passion for reforming factory farming and for environmentalism in general. Despite the lack of conflict, the journey is meaningful and, at times, profound in this pleasant story.

Thank you to Black Rose Writing and NetGalley for the ARC.

From Desolate to Empowered
This story is a bit better than Karma, but there is plenty of that, too. Our hero loses his wife in an auto accident that could have been avoided. He sells it all and sets sail from his home port of Corpus Christi, TX to the blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico, The Florida Keys, and more. He is mending a little if only because sailing every day keeps his mind busy and body tired. He has quite a few interesting adventures. The book is well worth reading and quite enjoyable.

I received this book via NetGalley and thanks to Black Rose Writing.

Clucked is the tale of one man's journey to rediscover himself and his purpose after losing his wife to a tragic, avoidable accident. Matt, sets sail away from the life he's always known to seek adventure and peace after losing the battle for justice for his wife, Julie. Matt is easy to empathize with as he struggles to understand why he should go on living in a world that's so unfair.

Not every book is for every reader. Frankly, if you want to know the whole and the sum of this book, read the description. It covers everything that happens while avoiding the repetitive nature of the writing. I was ~60% through the book before we ever even CONSIDERED approaching the rising action and actually meat of what I expected to be the story. The majority of the first 60% was an incredibly detailed log of Matt's day to day on the boat. I know a LOT of sailing terms now and am deeply comforted that no matter WHAT else was happening in the story, I could rely on the protagonist to ensure that Hank (the dog) was securely set up in the V-berth. How can I have that confidence you ask? Because the author ensured that it was written into every chapter multiple times. Matt, as a character, was incredibly methodical and explicit in sharing every detail with the reader, which for me was a deterrent from enjoying the read.

Clucked is described as satire and humorous. As "humor" can be incredibly subjective, I've decided not to harp on the fact that not once did I laugh or even smirk through my reading. My comment that the whole of the story is detailed in the description is not one of exaggeration and if anything it sets the reader up for disappointment as details that are emphasized in the description, are mere sentences in the actual story like the singing dog.

If the description left more to be discovered in the reading and the book hadn't been labeled as humor, I believe this would have been a lovely fictional memoir type read of a man's literal journey to find purpose after great sorrow. Overall, not for me, but if you have interest in sailing misadventures and enjoy a heartfelt protagonist, then Clucked will be an enjoyable easy read for you!

What begins as an attempt to escape the heartache following the death of his beloved wife, Matt sets out alone to complete the sailing adventure they had hoped to take together. The last remnant of his shattered family, his old, half-blind dog, Hank at his side, Matt points his nose toward the waves and sets sail. Trying desperately to stay ahead of the pain of grief as if it were a growing storm off the stern, he hopes this trip will soothe his broken heart with enough distractions to loosen the grip of loss. Even in the vastness of the sea, he can’t outrun the giant corporation responsible for Julie’s death. One careless move leaves him with a hole in his boat to match the hole in his heart, and he fears his adventure is about to come to a screeching halt. Instead, the sea has seen fit to bring him together with a family community which has also suffered, maybe not so coincidentally, at the hand of the Clawson Chicken Corporation.

Throughout the book, the reader’s face is misted with salt water—both from the sea, and from tears. Hollan asks his readers to be brave enough to place their eye against the viewfinder to get a hard look at the dark side of the food industry. The heart is tugged in many directions for both the people and the animals who languish in the factory farming industry. Hollan’s friendly style of writing grabs the reader from the very first paragraph and, much the same way Matt secures Hank into his harness, he safely locks you in for the ride. Just like every great adventure tale, each chapter rises and falls like a wave, a vignette in the greater arc of the story. Every word is worth reading—Hollan paints vibrant pictures of a world he sees clearly in his mind, bringing us in without overwhelming us with the invitation. The characters are so well developed, it feels as if Hollan is describing his own friends, and we are invited to share a beer with them all aboard the old sloop. There is much to mourn and celebrate in this novel which perfectly blends a sea-faring adventure with a tasty mystery. And just like the sailboat zigzagging across the water to hold a straight path, Matt and Hank’s hearts finally find their way toward healing.

Troy Hollan’s story “Clucked” is a sweet and poignant tale of how one man deals with grief after losing the love of his life in an unnecessary accident due to the corporate greed of Clawson Chicken company. Matt decides to leave his life behind and set sail on his boat Lonesome Dove with his aging dog Hank. In fact, I was totally reeled into the story when I learned that Matt’s boat was named (partly after) the boat that Robin Lee Graham had sailed around the world in when he was 16. That story enthralled me back then, and I still have it on my shelf.

Along the way Matt meets quirky characters who offer kindness and hope—bringing him out of his despair. In fact, without the help from strangers, he may have been forced to give up his plans to sail to remote locations for a year when his boat had become severely damaged. This event leads him to meet Hannah, the sister of the boat repairman. Hannah has some inside information about the disgusting things happening at the Clawson Chicken plant—far worse than he had previously imagined. It wasn’t just the fact the chickens were forced to listen to the popular wedding song “The Macarena” for hours on end. There was also… Well, I’d better not give away any more of the plot. Suffice to say, even though I know this is a work of fiction, I’m glad that I never eat chicken nuggets. Matt, with the help of Hanna (and his dog Hank) free the chickens, get retribution for his wife’s untimely death, and learns that life can go on.

Thank you Net Galley and Black Rose Writing for providing me with an ARC of this wonderful five-star novel. I’m already looking forward to the author’s next book.