hard twisted review

"Hard Twisted" by C. Joseph Greaves is a novel about the real-life characters: Clint Palmer and Lottie, a 13 year old girl that Palmer picks up on the way through Oklahoma.  The story takes place in the 1930's.  Palmer is a convict from Leavenworth, Ks who makes his living gambling, cock fighting, and stealing.  Lottie's father is an alcoholic hobo who couldn't keep track of a dog, let alone a girl.  Her father, takes her from her Uncle Mack's home where she has been living and they start to live the hobo life.  In his drunken wandering he comes across Clint Palmer, who eventually kills him and keeps the daughter.  Now, this is a true story so even though some of it makes no sense at all, it must have been so.  The story wanders with Palmer's mind and there seems to be no rhyme or reason to it.  There also is no point.  It's never clear why he keeps her other than for sex, but why keep her hanging on, when you can get it anywhere.  The main fault I found was that the characters were a bit flat.  I felt sorry for Lottie, I figured she was miserable, but it was never clear that she felt anything.  The author never gets into her head.  She talks little, so the reader is never sure about anything when it comes to Lottie.  The story could have been good; it wanted to, but the character development just wasn't there. I received this book for free from www.netgalley.com.