Law of Gravity, The - Hardcover

Cottrell, Dennis

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0941711250 ISBN 13: 9780941711258

Publisher: Gibbs Smith, 1995

Synopsis

The man in the yellow suit didn't have much lips, just kind of straight line where his mouth was supposed to be. The straight line widened a little bitm and he stuck our his hand for me to shake. When I came from behind the car door and held out my hand, he wrapped his long fingers around my knuckles and squeezed. He wasn't hurting me, but I felt foolish having him shake my hand that way. "Jubal is the name, " he said, his voice gentle and quiet. "Lee is the surname. Jubal Lee."
He put the cigarette between his lips and lit it but never took jis eyes off me. Seem like his eyes drew me toward him like an undertow, and seem like he knew things about me I didn't want him to, all the secret and dirty and underhanded things I'd ever done. He took a deep drag off the cigarette and blew a perfect smoke ring that rose up over his yellow head like a halo. "I admire loyalty above else in a boy or a man," he said, his voice as kind as a praying deacon's. "I hate lies."
I had a funny, crazy feeling about this Jubal Lee. Seem like I'd been knowing him all my life. Seem like he'd always been in the shadows behind me, and if I'd turned around fast enough, I could have met him before mow. He was mean as a snake, and he'd put my eyes out in a second, just like he siad he would, but there was still something that nobody had ever seen before, and he still liked me. He understood me in ways I couldn't exactly put into words. It didn't make any kind of sense, me feeling that way about him, especially after what he'd done to Tory, but I reckon there's more kinds of sense than what comes from your head.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

The Law of Gravity Dennis Morgan Cottrell This deceptively simple, yet powerful, first novel introduces a writer whose narrative style harkens to the literary tradition of the picaresque. As Patrick Gunn moves toward maturity in rural Tennessee, he becopmes involved in an increasingly dangerous series of adventures. He first manages to escape an abusive father and is placed in a foster home whose owner awakens his latent intellectual curiosity--a curiosity which eventually takes him on the road. Little does he know that this seemingly innocent excursion will bring him to an unavoidabke meeting with Jubal Lee, a man whose seductive charms belie his evil intentions. Patrick's ability to survive will depend upon his wit, guile and a hidden source of strength derived from his childhood travails. Back Flap Copy Dennis Morgan Cottrell was born in Pulaski, Tennessee and was graduated from Martin Methodist College, Middle Tennessee State University and Tennessee State University. He is a teacher and an avid fly fisherman. The Law of Gravity is his first novel.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

I suspect that most everybody living below the Mason-Dixon line has heard of me, Pat Gunn, especially since all the big newspapers down here have told my story in half a dozen ways, none of them exactly right, and now that one of my old school pictures has beened flashed across every durn TV screen between Memphis and Mobile.

About this edition

• Publisher: Gibbs Smith
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0941711250
• ISBN 13: 9780941711258
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 330
• Editor: Wyrick Charles