The Signal

Carlson is master enough of the short form that there’s actually a book out there called Ron Carlson Writes a Story. It’s not quite at the level of, say, Bob Dylan Writes a Song, but it does show the respect afforded this “writer’s writer.”

Carlson’s latest clocks in at just 184 pages, a short—though not necessarily tight—novel about young love turned into old disappointment. Wyoming rancher Mack met his future wife, Vonnie, when they were 17, and after a hiking trip into the mountains, they quickly fall in love and get married. But over the years, Mack closes his ranch and begins some shady dealings to try to keep his head above water (while drinking his nights away). After he becomes embroiled in the local cadre of meth runners, Vonnie divorces him—though he never opens the letters from her lawyer. In a bittersweet final attempt to set things right with her, the two embark on their annual hiking trip, to the mountains where they first fell in love.

Though Mack is vying for Vonnie’s heart one last time—a fool’s errand, but you can’t blame a guy—he has another goal in sight. He’s been tasked by his cohorts with recovering some paraphernalia from the mountain, and the mission quickly descends into danger. The suspense of the heist doesn’t quite live up to the pain of the cracked intimacy between Vonnie and Mack, whose still-resonant inside jokes stick around like shrapnel.

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