All Hat By Brad Smith [Reading]

Brad Smith

(4.5 stars; 1 review)

All Hat by Brad Smith is a novel about hope, redemption, and getting even, not necessarily in that order. Just out of prison for attacking the man who assaulted his sister, Ray Dokes heads back to the small Canadian town where he was raised. Vowing to lie low, he moves in with Pete Culpepper, a Texas cowboy who has always been a grounding influence on Ray, but whose debts are growing faster than his corn.

Between roofing houses and watching Pete's nine-year-old gelding at the races, Ray soon crosses paths with just about everyone in town, including Pete's new jockey, Chrissie, a tough young woman whose ease with horses is equaled only by her mistrust of people, and Ray's former lover Etta, who views him with more skepticism than ever. When the opportunity arises to con Sonny Stanton, the vicious heir of his father's electronics fortune, out of some ill-gained wealth, everyone is willing to band together and take a gamble.

Surprisingly poignant yet laugh-out-loud funny, All Hat tells a classic story of little guys fighting big guys and reaffirming the meaning of honesty, friendship, and second chances in the process.

This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.