Flipping Boxcars

Flipping Boxcars by Cedric “The Entertainer” Kyles with Alan Eisenstock 336 pages

 

I admit it; I only picked this book up to see how bad it was.  I’m a fan of Cedric television shows but wasn’t sure he had the chops to pull off a mystery novel, especially a historical fiction one.  However, I was hooked from the first page and enjoyed every bit of this thriller. I love the double entendre of the title, even if it did take me half the book to figure it out.

 

The main character is Floyd Bates Sr., better known as Babe. Babe, an Army Veteran, is a gambler. The story is set in Caruthersville, Missouri, in 1948. The first chapter/introduction sets the mood for the novel. It’s foreshadowing at its best.

 

Babe is first and foremost a family man. He deeply loves and respects his wife, Rosie, and adores their four children. He will do anything to keep them safe and secure. Anything. Everyone in town loves the Boyce family.

 

Babe has two special gifts. He can talk his way out of, or into, any situation. The second is that he never loses. Never. He runs a back-alley gambling casino outside of town that reaps huge rewards for Babe.

 

The Fourth of July is a big event in Caruthersville. As the calendar days are peeled off, Babe finds himself needing something that only a gangster can get for him: more liquor. Unfortunately, the foreshadowing that is the first chapter/introduction comes true, and Babe must use all his connections and resources to get himself out of this mess.

 

I so enjoyed this novel.  Babe and all the other characters are wonderful, and I hope that Cedric writes another novel with them.  I admit that I expected much, much more profanity in the novel than there was (thank you, Cedric), it was fast paced thriller that is also sweet.

 

Flipping Boxcars gets 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.