John Billheimer, Primary Target
© John Billheimer 2019
The Mystery Company/An imprint to Crum Creek Press
ISBN (paperback) 978-1-932325-57-5
ISBN (hardcover) 978-1-932325-59-5
ISBN (ebook) 978-1-932325-58-5
I’ve been a fan of John Billheimer’s “Owen Allison” books since I read the first one (The Contrary Blues (1998); Primary Target is the 6th in the series) some years ago. I was drawn in by the character (especially the continuing cast of Owen Allison, his brother George, his mother Ruth, his ex-wife Judith, and Sheriff Thad Reader), by the intricate plots, and, especially, by the setting. As with many authors (Tony Hillerman and the American southwest; Michael Lewin and Indianapolis; Rex Stout and NYC; and many, many others), the setting becomes an integral part of the story. And Billheimer makes West Virginia come alive.
There is one thing I don’t understand. I don’t understand why Billheimer’s books are not more widely read. Hiehas created memorable characters and compelling stories. I suspect, though, that the setting is an issue. The Four Corners region of the southwest is starkly beautiful, and the native American population does, I think, grab people in ways that poor coal miners do not. New York City and LA and San Francisco and Chicago are vibrant, exciting cities. Miami has sun, surf, and other exotica. People vacation there, and have experienced the beauty and the energy. And West Virginia is a place that, if people think about it at all, gets thought about disparagingly. It’s not much of a vacation destination. But…even if you never actually visit, you will be doing yourself a favor by taking a trip there in John Bilheimer’s books. I encourage you to take that trip, and this book is a good place to start.
I lived in West Virginia from 1970 to 1975, for three years as a graduate student in economics at West Virginia University, then as an instructor—two one-year appointments at two schools. I can’t say I came to love WV, but I did come to know some of its places of exceptional beauty, some of its places of historic significance (the great railroad strike of 1873 began in Grafton WV, some of the places despoiled by the effects of coal mining. I came to know some of its people, including one friend from my first full-time teaching job who has been a life-long friend to the men and women (some of them coming to class after a night shift in a mine) in my classes to some of the union leaders.
Understanding mining, and the not exactly placid history of the United Mine Workers union [1] [2] useful, but not essential, in reading Billheimer’s books. And mining plays a smaller role in Primary Target than in the earlier books in the series. Political corruption has also been alleged to be endemic in West Virginia; when I arrived in 1970, three ex-governors were in federal prisons for having accepted bribes in the award of highway contracts. [3]
In Primary Target, the focus is on West Virginia politics, and specifically on the presidential primary pitting California Senator Jason Davison (whose father was a longtime political power in California) against Sam Halstead, the governor of Missouri. Davison and his campaign are central to the book; Halstead plays essentially no role. The race is neck-and-neck, and the primary outcomes in West Virginia and Indiana are likely to be decisive. And in West Virginia, vote fraud has long been an issue, and votes may be for sale; we are told, for example, that in a previous election, more votes were case in Mingo County than the number of people—not voters, people—living there.
Owen Allison has, some years past, returned to his home state to try to reconstruct his life and his career. He is an engineer, and was a member of a California consulting firm TranAnalytics; a major part of the firm’s business was accident analysis. The firm went under when a potentially lucrative contract was awarded, by Davison’s father, to a politically connected firm with no experience. And, at about the same time, Owen’s marriage to Judith was falling apart.
And strange things begin to happen. One of Allison’s former partners dies in what appears to have been suicide—he was in bad health, and broke. Owen has doubts, which prove to be well-founded. His doubts are fueled partly by a fire—arson—at the home of another of his former partners. And, as if to erase all doubts, his home—the home he grew up in, and where his mother still lives—is firebombed—while he’s inside. And some of Allison’s records from his old consulting firm are in his ex-wife’s home—which may put her at risk as well. It begins to appear likely that all this is somehow connected to Davison’s campaign.
Allison has maintained a sporadic consulting practice, and has forged a close friendship with the sheriff, Thad Reader; he even works occasionally as a member of the sheriff’s staff.
A reported for a New York newspaper, Tom O’Day, shows up; he’s clearly trying to derail Davison’s campaign. Rumors suggest that Davison (who is married) has been playing around with a campaign staffer, who disappears. Another staffed dies in a motorcycle crash, which seems likely not to be an accident. And then things begin to get dangerous.
Billheimer brings into the narrative a family of former miners, the Elkins family. Trish works as a caretaker; she’s helping care for Ruth Allison. The brothers are all former soldiers and current bootleggers. They also have their own tiny coal mine (which reminded me of the tiny coal mine in the movie Coal Miner’s Daughter). Allison and Reader a witness there; it’s a place that seems unlikely to be discovered. The Elkins family is a wonderful addition to the cast.
The action moves quickly, and it’s not clear, even as we learn more and more about what, exactly, has been happening, and why, that it’s going to be possible to bring the killer or killers to justice. And it’s not clear how the revelations will affect the outcome of the presidential primaries.
And Billheimer’s writing is taut, and true to the characters. I particularly liked this exchange between Owen Allison and the sheriff, starting with the sheriff:
“Oh, he remembered you all right. He was
lying about that”!
“How do you know?”
“I‘ve spent the last forty years learning to
recognize when people lie to me.”
“What did you do for the first twenty-five?”
“Believed whatever anyone told me. Got a
Purple Heart and a glass eye to show for it.”
This is an exciting and compelling book, and I strongly encourage you to read it (and the books that preceded it).
[1] Jock Yablonsky, the leader of a dissident group of miners, was murdered (along with the rest of his family) when he ran to force Tony Boyle out as president of the Union. Boyle hired thugs to perform the killing and was convicted of being an accessory to murder in 1973; he died in prison.
[2] Boyle was succeeded as UMW president by Arnold Miller. Miller had been instrumental in forcing the US Department of Labor to take black lung seriously as an occupational illness. It remains a scourge, destroying lives to this day.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalworker%27s_pneumoconiosis
[3] While I was living there, Jay Rockefeller (John David Rockefeller IV) became prominent in the state’s politics, being elected Governor twice (1976 & 1980). There was a fairly strong feeling that one reason he was so popular was that no one could afford to bribe him.
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