by Bridget N. Watts

Created on: January 26, 2010   Last Updated: January 27, 2010

Dirty White Boys is a crime novel by American novelist Stephen Hunter that was first published in 1995. It tells the story of Lamar Pye, a brutal and aggressive, yet charismatic convict who escapes from a prison in the Mid-West together with two fellow convicts, Richard, a big geeky artist, and Odell, his mentally challenged cousin.

The story follows the men as they travel through several different states, while being pursued by state troopers. As you can probably guess from the title, these are not the nicest kind of guys and they get up to no good, including a lot of mindless and pointless violence.

The novel begins with Lamar brutally killing a giant black inmate in the showers of the prison to avoid being raped by him. Because he is very worried about possible repercussions, he decides to try to escape from the prison.

Once outside of the prison Lamar, Richard and Odell flee to the remote house of a woman Lamar has been receiving letters from while he was in prison. Rutha is a total convict groupie who, it turns out, killed both her parents when she was young. She is desperate to find someone who she can belong to.

It turns out Lamar is not only a violent criminal, he is also just a guy looking for love and acceptance, and a place to call home. He tries to create his own kind of twisted family together with Richard, Odell, and Rutha. Together they get up to no good, including a very brutal and bloody robbery of a restaurant from which Lamar almost does not come out alive.

They also find some time to get some tattoos done. Of course being on the run from the police, it is only a matter of time before the state troopers catch up with them. However, before this happens a whole lot of unnecessary blood is shed first.

Besides all the violence, the novel also places special important on guns. The main characters do not only use them a lot, the novel is also full of gun talk. I don't really care for guns, therefore I found it a little annoying.

If you read between the lines you will see that this novel is not just about white trash criminals on the run, but it also gives some inside into the how and why. Lamar might be a thug, but being a thug is all he knows and, in his own psychotic way, he tries to create some sort of life for himself.

If you like this kind of genre, and you have no problem with violence, I am sure you are going to enjoy reading Dirty White Boys as it's well written and fast paced.

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