Daniel Myers: The Second Favourite Son

Reviewed by MICHAEL LARSEN

Straughan Junior Packard IV carries his long moniker and family responsibility with an air of resignation while younger brother Jefferson Davis Packard, who is less interested in the whole family deal, develops a rebellious attitude from an early age.

When word comes through that his older brother has fallen off a cruise ship, and his father has died of the shock, JD finds he has to swap his trainers for a pair of brogues and head up the family firm. And when he starts looking into his brother's death, he starts turning up a few anomalies that require some answers.

The family inner circle closes ranks, so JD enlists his best mate Dex, who happens to be black, to do some digging. A long way back the two are related, but that cuts no ice with this white southern dynasty and JD remains on the outer, making any search for the truth a difficult task indeed.

So far, so cliched? Maybe. But there is a lot more to this first novel than meets the eye, and Myers uncovers the grim realities of past, present and future with great restraint, deftness of both structure and language, and a keen eye for geographical detail. This Chicago-born New Zealand resident obviously has a deep love of the Deep South, and his depictions of the land, his feel for the seasons and his brilliant grasp of the phonetics of the region are truly wonderful.

His changing of history so that the South won the war is not as far-fetched as it might seem, and is as ambitious as this sprawling yet assured novel most certainly is. While it is a little slow to get going, Myers gets you so embroiled that you'd best put aside a good few hours to see this one through. An excellent debut.

* Hazard Press, $34.95

* Michael Larsen is an Auckland freelance writer.