August 1, 2017
Ponicsan's debut novel, The Last Detail (1970), was made into a 1973 film starring Jack Nicholson, Randy Quaid, and Otis Young that became an iconic buddy movie. Now Ponicsan reunites his indelible characters as they retrace their steps from Norfolk, Virginia, to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The occasion, some 34 years later, is even more fraught than their first mission. This time, Larry Meadows has sought out his old Shore Patrol escorts to help him accompany the body of his son, a marine killed in Iraq, for burial in New England. Given the loss, it seems unlikely that hijinks will ensue as they did when a younger Billy Bad-Ass Buddusky and Mule Mulhall decided to teach the naive Meadows some worldly ways before he committed eight years of his life to the naval penitentiary; then again, shenanigans may be inevitable. Trains, of course, are missed. Authority, of course, is questioned. Friendships, of course, are tested. And through it all, Ponicsan delivers an irreverent, acerbic, but nonetheless poignant look at the true nature of loyalty. Recommend both novels and the movie.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)