(Harper Perennial) www.harpercollins.com  

“Write about what you know.” That’s what writers hear from day one, and it’s something Willy Vlautin does with great success. He comes from a broken home, grew up in Reno’s sleazy bars, and finds comfort in the disenfranchised that cling to the underbelly of society. Whether he’s crafting heartbreaking songs as the leader of Richmond Fontaine or laying it down on paper as he has here, with his second novel (previously: 2007’s The Motel Life), the stories are extensions of Vlautin that serve as a glimpse into the death of the American dream. 

Northline is the tale of Allison Johnson, a young woman Richmond Fontaine fans first encountered on the band’s landmark 2004 album Post to Wire. She’s a hard luck gal who leaves Las Vegas and runs north to Reno to break free of her abusive skinhead boyfriend. Allison hates herself. She drinks until she passes out and suffers from panic attacks so severe that the only way to calm her nerves is by slicing her body, biting her cheek, or putting cigarettes out on her arm.

It would have been easier to give up, but she doesn’t and that’s what this book is really about. Instead of letting the darkness swallow her whole, Allison gets out of bed every day and throws herself into the world, and eventually she meets another crippled soul named Dan Mahony. Together they pull each other up. They learn to trust and eventually allow a sliver of hope to release them of their pasts.

There’s an Allison Johnson struggling to survive in every town across America. She’s the waitress at the diner, the bartender at the dive, the lady who cleans your house, and there’s a bit of her in all of us. Willy Vlautin has given all the Allison Johnsons a voice, and in doing so he’s created a future classic that will help define the downtrodden state of present day America. AARON KAYCE

[Pictured: Willy Vlautin]