The Dead Don't Dance

by Charles Martin
Dakota County, paperback, 315 pages

Martin is quickly becoming my favorite author. This book, his first, isn't quite as striking as the other two of his that I've read, but it's quite good.

Dylan Styles seems to have it all - a home, good friends, a lovely wife, and a first child on the way. But his son's birth tears his world apart as the baby dies and his wife bleeds so heavily that she almost dies. With her in a vegetative state, his life goes into a tailspin. His friend Amos tries to help him get back on track, but it's one of his students, Amanda, who really impacts him and motivates his turnaround.

At first, this novel reminded me of Johnny Gospel. It has the corn fields, pickup trucks, and aimless wandering by a man in grief. But ultimately, this story and its characters shine through in their transition from brokenness to newness. Good stuff!

The title comes from a line on page 102: "You can't go where the river goes. Rivers do life, and the dead don't dance." It's further elaborated upon at the end of the book where the line "I now lived in a world where the dead danced" comes after a major turning point in the narrator's life.