Bycatch - a novel

Alexander Blevens

Summary

A fisherman’s murder in Mississippi unwinds the dark truth from Vietnam and exposes unfathomable guilt.
 
Rex Thompson has not spoken of the felony he committed in Vietnam for over two decades. When his ne’er-do-well sons scuttle a shrimp boat in the Biloxi Bay and drown an immigrant fisherman who had witnessed this crime, Rex is flooded with remorse but remains silent.
 
His secrets seem to wash away in the muddy tide until the fisherman’s daughter, Anh Truong, stumbles upon a wartime journal and confronts Rex with a tale her murdered father never told. As a dragnet encircles his sons, Rex’s life of poor choices unravels, and he must decide to continue his charade or seek mercy from those he harmed.
 
Bycatch is a story soaked with greed and forgiveness while Southern and Vietnamese cultures tangle on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
 
PRAISE FOR BYCATCH
 
“With empathy, an eye for detail, and a fascinating cast of characters—not to mention a helluva story—Alexander Blevens has delivered a suspenseful debut novel reaching deep into a community few of us know.” —Robert Lindsey, author of the National Bestseller The Falcon and the Snowman: A True Story of Friendship and Espionage
 
“With Bycatch, Alexander Blevens joins the ranks of outstanding Mississippi writers.” —Cecil George Brown, author of D’Leaux, Mississippi-From Moss to Tuckertown
 
“Weaved into the breakneck pace is a very human story of guilt and redemption. Experience Bycatch today.” —Tom McGraw, author of The Starving Detectives Series

Available since: 05/05/2022.

Print length: 206 pages.

Contemporary Fiction

1 Comments

24symbols EN

#bookoftheweek June 3rd 2022.

Alexander Blevens starts this astonishing debut novel with a crime that is supposed to settle a score but instead shines light on another crime from the past. As the action jumps forth and back between past events and the present, we learn that there is a connection between Don Nyueng, a Vietnamese shrimper who drowned when his boat was intentionally sunk, and Vietnam veteran Rex Thompson, the previous owner of the very same boat.

While crime and culprits are revealed from the very beginning, the novel’s merit lies in showing how a series of bad choices can determine one’s course of life and how it affects others. Blevens reflects on family, guilt and forgiveness and evokes memories of a war that scarred an entire generation. Tension builds up and culminates in an inevitable catastrophic ending that nevertheless allows space for reconciliation. A deeply poignant read.

Discover more book recommendations on https://www.24symbols.com/24stories/en/the-best-books-of-the-moment/

About the author

Alexander Blevens

Alexander Blevens hails from the coastal mountains of Northern California, his boyhood home. He studied biochemistry at the University of California, and medicine at Northwestern University, before...

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