That's How I Roll

by Andrew Vachss Narrated by Phil Gigante

Overview

After pleading guilty to a series of homicides, Esau Till sits on death row, writing his life story. But his memoir is his one last chance to protect his brother. And, when it comes to his baby brother, Esau Till is a man without boundaries. When the genetic cards were dealt, Esau drew a genius IQ - and a crippled body. His brother Tory drew a 'slow' mind - and almost superhuman strength. Very early on, Esau learned that the only way to guarantee his brother's safety was to make himself indispensable, so he became the top hired killer for both rival local mobs. As the state gets ready to take his life, Esau plots going all-in on the last hand he will ever play.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"Crafty, strong-willed [main character] Esau combines courtly manners, deadly paybacks, and ruthless singularity of purpose in this chilling tour de force." - Publishers Weekly
"...strikingly original...Vachss structures his novel as a sort of loose, episodic confessional that builds the story stone by stone...A smart, cynical glimpse into the human condition - and into lives no one should envy." - Kirkus Reviews
"Born of a supremely abusive father and his own sister, Esau Till is trouble from day one - a hired killer who ends up on death row. This book unfolds as Esau's effort to tell his life story in a bid to protect Tory after his own death. Vachss writes raw, eye-opening works that deserve our attention." - Library Journal
"...a highly compelling work of fiction by a master story teller at the top of his game...Grade: A-...[Narrator] Gigante is capable of some amazing vocal gymnastics...but it's his ability to capture the edges of the characters that makes his performance in here special...Gigante reads That's How I Roll like the author intended it to be read, and that, to me, is the most important thing a narrator can do." - The Guilded Earlobe

Kirkus Reviews

Life is tough. It's tougher when you're on death row. In his newest whodunit, Vachss (The Weight, 2010, etc.) combines his trademark black humor with his longstanding concern for children and their well-being. The result is a strikingly original character named Esau Till, born with a "spine thing" that has kept him from standing on his own for all the 40-plus years of his life. Esau has a genius IQ and a sharp sense of justice, if a vigilante one; no being bullied on the schoolyard or in life for him. Indeed, he has a skill that is very much in demand in the rough redneck quarters in which he moves—he makes a mean bomb. What keeps Esau motivated on this unforgiving planet is his younger brother Tory-boy, Lennie to his George, who is beyond simpleminded and is constantly in some mischief or another—dangerously involving the local neo-Nazi contingent at one point. Esau and Tory descend from a fellow known locally as the Beast, who made a sport of incest and murder until receiving his comeuppance, and they're not what you might call model citizens. Even though Esau does a fine job of clearing the streets of criminals, if often on behalf of other criminals, he's also worked his way through the catalog of civil offenses and felonies. For his trouble, we find Esau in the pen awaiting the final needle, telling his tale to pass the time. Vachss structures his novel as a sort of loose, episodic confessional that builds the story stone by stone, strewing the landscape with bodies ("Before he could open his mouth to ask a question, I shot him in the face") and dispensing folksy wisdom ("If a man walks into a liquor store after dark, it's either because he's got money...or because he doesn't"). The outlook is insistently bleak: Esau and Tory were born into suffering and will go out that way, too, sharing some of the wealth as they wander through the world. A smart, cynical glimpse into the human condition—and into lives no one should envy.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940175516563
Publisher:	Dreamscape Media
Publication date:	03/20/2012
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

Around here, even dying can be hard. Horribly hard. Only death itself comes easy. By easy, I mean frequent. Death happens so often that people regard it pretty much the same as the never-ending rain.
   
When life itself is hard, you have to be hard to live. Even a bitch will cull one of her own pups if she doesn't think he's going to be tough enough—she knows she's only got but so much milk, and there's none to waste.

Survival isn't some skill we learned—it's in all our genes. Nobody needed to be told to step aside when they saw the Beast coming. But not everyone stepped fast enough.
   
There's rock slides. Floods, too. Those are natural phenomena. You live here, you expect them. But just because a man's found under tons of rock, or floating in the river, doesn't mean his death was due to natural causes.

Folks drink a lot. Wives get beaten something fierce. Some of those wives can shoot pretty good. And some of their husbands never think it can happen to them, even when they're sleeping off a drunk.

There's supposed to be good and bad in everyone. Probably is. But here, it's the bad in you that's more often the most useful.

Like the difference between climate and weather. Most folks around here don't view a killing as good or bad—just something that happens, like a flood or a fire.

That's why a whole lot of bodies never get viewed at all.

For a man like me, this is a good part of the country to do my work. I take pride in the quality of my work, but I never deceive myself that every death at my hands is justified, never mind righteous or noble.

I never saw myself as ... much of anything, really. Just a crippled, cornered rat, trying to protect my little brother with whatever I can.

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