Revolver ~ Marcus Sedgwick

A LOADED GUN. STOLEN GOLD. And a menacing stranger. A taut frontier survivor story, set at the time of the Alaska gold rush.

In an isolated cabin, fourteen-year-old Sig is alone with a corpse: his father, who has fallen through the ice and frozen to death only hours earlier. Then comes a stranger claiming that Sig’s father owes him a share of a horde of stolen gold. Sig’s only protection is a loaded Colt revolver hidden in the cabin’s storeroom. The question is, will Sig use the gun, and why? [Summary from Amazon]

Three words that perhaps best describe Revolver: Tense, menacing, philosophical.

My first foray into Marcus Sedgwick’s writing will not be my last. I found his prose chilling in its lucidity and at times overwhelmingly atmospheric, qualities that were fully supported by the story. I’ll admit to being impressed by his writing style, but even moreso was I taken with the urgency and tension that Sedgwick expertly delivered from the very first page.

Before going further, consider this description: “His features were coarse, his eyes far apart, his nose broad, his mouth hidden by a rough beard of ginger and white. His head, when he removed his fur hat, was shaven to his scalp. His skull was a disturbing shape, flat at the back, his ears too small. It was not a face stroked into creation by God’s loving hand, but battered into shape by the Devil’s hammer.” (ARC, p 50)

Now consider that this stranger is big, built like a bear, and that he forces his way into your house, a loaded gun at his hip. Imagine that he demands something from you that you have no knowledge of. That he speaks to you in one or two word sentences, assuming  with arrogance that you will follow his terse orders. Imagine that he will not leave, no matter what you say. You are young, alone, six miles away from people that would have to traverse thawing ice in order to help you. If they even knew you needed help to begin with.

The entire time I read I was metaphorically on the edge of my seat. My emotions ran the gamut from fear to fury, swinging back and forth like a pendulum. I didn’t want to put the book down because an interesting twist would rear up, taking the story in a direction I hadn’t thought to guess at yet, and all the while with that stranger’s breath dancing on the back of my neck. So, yes, tense and menacing are perfect terms to apply to this short novel.

But philosophical? What’s that all about? Sig, our young protagonist, was only five when his father decided to test his luck during the Alaskan gold rush. Alaska during the late 1800′s and early 1900′s was a dangerous place, which is why, instead of buying food for his family, Sig’s father bought a gun. An old revolver with a limited supply of bullets. He brought it home and set it on the table despite his religious wife’s protestations. And he taught his children how to shoot it. But the question was: Should they use it? Was violence a solution? Or a sure way to bring more trouble down on their heads? Sig thinks about that constantly, even as he remembers the feel of the gun in his hand, how easy it was to pull the trigger. And in the end, with both his mother’s and father’s words in his head, it’s up to him to determine the answer. Philosophical fits, then, and all of Sig’s musings blend into the rest of the story without a hitch, amplifying an already awful situation.

Sedgwick obviously did his homework for this book, learning about the gold rush, about guns. And it paid off. Also, the marks of latitude, temperature, and the relevant quotes that lead off each chapter fantastically supplemented the story itself.

As soon as time allows I’ll be checking out Sedgwick’s backlist. As for Revolver, you can expect to see it on shelves in April.

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I received an ARC of Revolver from the publisher at the ALA Midwinter Conference.

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