28 April 2009 BUG BOY by Eric Luper, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, August 2009, 256p., ISBN: 978-0-374-31000-4

Instant fame. Boatloads of money. Expensive cars. Hot girls. Designer wardrobes. Underage drinking in exclusive clubs filled with other A-List celebrities. Hangers on. Agents. Groupies. Paparazzi. Binging and purging. Drinking and driving, Shady characters. Shameless extravagance and decadence while millions of your fellow Americans are losing their homes and their jobs.

Is it the 21st century misbehavior of the latest teen movie celeb or teen pop idol?

Nope. It's Jack Walsh, who is suddenly a very hot fifteen-year-old horse race jockey in Saratoga New York in 1934.

"We're in the money, we're in the money

We've got a lot of what it takes to get along"

-- from the 1933 film, "Gold Diggers of 1933"

Jack was once a kid on a family farm in upstate New York. Unfortunately for Jack, his father sent him off to earn money for the family at the age of twelve with an abusive scoundrel named Tweed McGowan who was supposed to be teaching him about horses and racing. Fortunately for Jack, Tweed eventually "traded" him to Pelton Stables, big-time owners and trainers of thoroughbred race horses, for an old saddle and some horseshoes. Jack has been exercising horses and cleaning stalls for Pelton and, being a gifted rider, has caught the attention of his employers. When Pelton's star jockey breaks his neck in a starting gate accident at Saratoga, Jack is given his chance to race and takes full advantage of it.

Jack's fame provides him the opportunity to catch the fancy of and spend his off time with Elizabeth Reed, the rich and beautiful young daughter of a wealthy rival stable owner. Unbeknownst to just about everyone, Elizabeth Reed (I always wondered about the dame after whom my favorite Allman Brothers song was named.) is a bookie. In those days, race spectators would place bets with one of the bookmakers who were either down near the track or roaming through the stands. Being that women were not permitted to wager at the track, nor to serve as bookmakers, Elizabeth, assisted by another young woman, is discretely providing her services to a select female clientele. Not even her father is aware of Elizabeth's business.

BUG BOY takes place just months after the repeal of Prohibition. The U.S. is still mired deep in the Great Depression, and there are Hoovervilles sprouting up everywhere, but Jack, Elizabeth, and their teenage hangers-on are living huge between races. Of course, being a jockey, Jack has to maintain his weight in order to ride. The lavish dinners with Elizabeth mean that what goes down must come back up if the gravy train is going to keep on rolling. And you never know where and when you will run into one of the bad guys who is either demanding a piece of you or wanting you to fix a race.

Filled with riches and fraught with danger, Eric Luper's BUG BOY is an exhilarating ride. Grab on tight to a handful of mane and lean in close for a story that moves at a pace that is guaranteed to leave you breathless.

Richie Partington, MLIS

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