New Book Alert: Third Wheel by Richard R. Becker; Nostalgic High School Memories Turn Dark and Disturbing

 

New Book Alert: Third Wheel by Richard R. Becker; Nostalgic High School Memories Turn Dark and Disturbing

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Richard R. Becker’s previous book, 50 States, was an ambitious and ultimately successful endeavor in which he wrote an anthology of fifty stories that were set in each state. His drive to capture the setting, dialect, and character of each state and its residents was perfection beyond comparison.

Becker's next work, Third Wheel, is a bit less ambitious but still a brilliant work. It begins as a nostalgia piece of 80’s kids living their best days during a time of music videos, shopping malls, and Dungeons and Dragons. Instead it becomes a much darker and grittier tale involving greed, corruption, violence, and murder.

In 1982, teenager Brady Wilkins moved with his family from the Midwest to suburban Las Vegas. Brady feels out of place in Party Town and joins a group of friends including older boys, Mick and Brett in playing Dungeons and Dragons. After Brett moves away, Mick draws in another kid, Alex, into their inner circle. Unfortunately, Alex's interests lie less in the realms of fantasy with paladins, clerics, thieves, and wizards and more in the real world of gangsters, dealers, addicts, and criminals. Alex becomes involved in drug dealing and then gets his friends into the scheme. Suddenly, Brady finds his close network of friends are not the people that he thought they were.

The book is a definite change of tone. It begins light-hearted with a strong tinge of nostalgia. I actually lived in Las Vegas from 1989-90 (while my father worked at Nellis Air Force Base. Yes, that Nellis, conspiracy buffs!) so it's actually very easy for me to picture the setting and time period. 

The first few chapters seem to imply a fun romp with high school hijinks and plenty of details to remind any 80’s kid. If you were a D&D player, the references and descriptions of game play will be fun to read through. 

We also see the wild parties when the parents are gone. When underage drinking and drug taking flows freely, the hook ups are plentiful, the cops are a phone call away, and someone's parent arrives at literally the worst moment. It's a tried and true staple of any coming of age story particularly one set during the rad consumerist spoiled spirit of the 80’s.

Brady is the typical kid who is on the outside of this group. He enjoys the D&D games and the parties but he's on the outer fringes of the in crowd. He sees other kids acting more daring and wilder than he does. He is often just the hanger on and after thought, the one that the cooler kids “forget” to pass the joint to and probably think he should just stay home. He isn't geeky enough to be a nerd and not wild enough to be a stoner. Brady's just there.

During these early chapters, there are hints of a dark undercurrent because of Alex. During the D&D games, he declared that fantasy games are stupid and knows where they can have some real fun. Then he starts lecturing them about Church of Satan founder, Anton LaVey more to shock his friends than actually following any of LaVey’s teachings. At the parties, he gives his friends hard drugs instead of the usual pot almost as if testing the effects on them. He then gets Brady and Mick into drug dealing to the point that when Brett returns to the group, he barely recognizes his old friends.

Once the drug dealing and criminal activity becomes prominent, lighthearted nostalgia ends. Third Wheel becomes a dark gritty crime drama. What was once fun and games and a way to relieve boredom becomes a means to get money, respect, and to survive.

Brady falls into Alex’s world feet first. At first, it's exciting and shakes up his world but the more he falls in, the more he loses parts of himself-friends, love interests, family, and parts of his identity. 

There is a point in the book where the dark undercurrents become overcurrents. Violence ensues and everything that Brady once did, thought, and believed is called into question. He is left to face the real consequences of what a life can bring and how much he stands to lose.

Third Wheel takes different tones and does both well. It's a comparatively smaller work than 50 States but no less brilliant and powerful.