While being about seventeen time zones away from the traditional crime novel, this is a ripper. A really refreshing read, there is just so much going on in such a short book and at no point feels rushed. Most of the crime books that I've read that are set in Florida have some unique and colourful characters in them, this is no different but while someone like Carl Hiaasen makes his crazy guys real lunatics (and wonderfully so), here the strangeness isn't so upfront but revealed over time. Superbly written, this is my big crime discovery for this year and considering it's only had 200 or so ratings on Goodreads, deserves a much larger audience. The mystery at the center of No Regrets, Coyote is not terribly suspenseful, and the pacing is somewhat strange, for a novel which chooses to make its central plot point a series of murders. That being said, I definitely enjoyed this read, and would probably recommend it. This novel is classed as fiction, and while it is nowhere near canon-worthy, it does probably work better as a novel than as a mystery, when so much attention is given to the life and times of Narrator Wylie "Coyote" Melville. The characterization of the residents of Eden and Melancholy, Florida is unquestionably the highlight of this book. What the story lacks in plot is made up for in interaction between the narrator and what sometimes felt like a parade of stranger-than-fiction types. Some readers might have less patience for so many characters, but I usually feel that, while fishing around for evidence in a string of murders and dabbling in a ring of corrupt government officials, one might speak to significantly more people than have a prominent role in the crimes. The rather no-nonsense style and black-ish (dry might be more appropriate) humor in the writing (this is my first Dufresne; I think he's always like this?) fits the subject matter perfectly and keeps the superfluous personal detail (again, for a crime novel) fresh, funny, and even touching, at times. I probably would have an excess of ambivalence for Wylie unless I saw him interacting with his father, his sister, "his" vagrant, his ex-wife, his patients, and, of course, his kitten. The real reason I give this novel three stars is because I believe it simply falls a little too close to center between fiction and mystery/crime. We are left without remarkable catharsis or revelation, as with a good work of fiction, and without a twist worth talking about, as with a good mystery. The only thing I have to say about the grisly climax, which occurs relatively early, is that as I was reading it I couldn't stop thinking about the woodchipper scene in Fargo. As a side note, I was somewhat surprised by the amount of cultural specificity (gadgets, films, music, brands, etc.) in the book, which I feel is usually avoided in order to help a novel retain its relevance and avoid a dated appearance. In the here and now, however, it works. Final Judgment: a beach-/quick-read of the highest caliber, but not a whole lot more.
What do You think about No Regrets, Coyote (2013)?
If you like the other books by John Dufresne, you'll love this one also.
—dqrox13
Not as out there as Carl Hiassen but not bad.
—dede1998
Good story that ended one chapter too late.
—elfgirl
