After graduating from high school, Arlene Fleet left her southern, redneck family in Alabama and never looked back. She has built a new life for herself in Chicago, working as a college professor, a PHD candidate, and is happy with her boyfriend, Burr, a black man. Suddenly, an old face emerges on her doorstep (literally) and starts dragging up the very incident that had caused Arlene to leave home almost 10 years ago.

Burr is threatening to end their relationship if she doesn't take him to meet her racist family, and Rose Mae Lolley, doorstep stalker, is on a mission of personal enlightenment and is heading for Possett, Alabama to dig up the past to try to find Jim Beverly, ex-football god. After successfully dodging the bullet and not going home since she had left, Arlene suddenly finds herself trapped into making the trip and facing her ghosts.

Realizing that she is going to have to break the pact that she made with God on that fateful night more than10 years ago, Arlene bellies up to the bar and dives head-first back into the tense family drama in order to protect Clarice from Rose Mae's inquisition. Only, Arlene can't seem to find her way clear of the secrets surrounding Jim Beverly; the fact that he had raped Clarice, which had spurred Arlene to murder him.

Arlene is left to struggle with her broken promise to God, her family and their half-crazed, redneck ways, and the facts surrounding the events of that terrible night, which will either make or break her.

Gods in Alabama is the first novel written by Joshilyn Jackson. After reading her second novel, Between, Georgia, I was extremely impressed with her writing style and the way she captures the essence of the south. So much so, that I couldn't let the proverbial stone unturned and decided that I had to read her first novel. I wasn't disappointed.

The story jumps back and forth between the present and the past, with the events leading up to the night of the murder. While the plot is centered on a dark event, there is a very touching side to the story as you watch Arlene come to the realization of the bonds within her family that she never realized were there. The characters are extremely well written, the dialogue witty and realistic. Ms. Jackson writes small-town America so well that you believe you're there, watching the events unfold. This book is a definite page-turner that left me hoping that the last page would never come.

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Publisher: Warner Books (June 1, 2006)
ISBN: 0446694533
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