Hawkins County MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW

"Hawkins County" does for the 1970's what "Stand By Me" did for the 1950's. Shades of Prairie Home Companion with a dash of Mayberry. Retro Americana

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. MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW May 2006

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