TIETAM BROWN
Mick Foley
Knopf
Fiction
ISBN: 0375415505

Mick Foley's greatest strength and weakness as a novelist is that people know who he is. Foley used to make his living as a professional wrestler, in multiple personas such as "Cactus Jack Manson," "Mankind," and "Foley", which were alternately malevolent and (from a fan standpoint) benevolent but always slightly wacky. Foley retired a few years ago but is apparently mulling a return to the ring; in the interim, he has made the transition to author. Foley has written two nonfiction bestsellers, HAVE A NICE DAY and FOLEY IS GOOD, and has written a couple of children's books, but TIETAM BROWN is his first foray into the world of written fiction.

TIETAM BROWN is a surprisingly confident work for a first novel. It is primarily the story of a couple of months in the life of Antietam (Andy) Brown, a high school senior who is largely unpopular but for the winsome and improbable attentions of Terri Lynn Johnson --- cheerleader, minister's daughter, and most popular girl in town. Brown is slightly off-kilter, deserted by his father at birth (an event that also resulted in the death of his mother).

Brown has been in and out of foster homes and detention centers when his long-lost father finally makes contact and bring him home. Antietam Brown IV is hardly a role model, parading a series of bed partners in front of his son and adhering to the "three strikes" rule. Johnson would appear to be Andy's salvation and, indeed, in many ways she is. She also, alas, has the power to destroy him, a process that Andy seems to almost haplessly encourage. There additionally are surprises in store for both father and son, few of which are pleasant. It is as if their lives are salted.

TIETAM BROWN is hardly an uplifting story; the violence is graphic, brutal and at times gratuitous, and a majority of the sexual couplings have an air of oneupsmanship and forced activity as opposed to true sharing of passion. This is a world however that definitely exists, though relatively few of us know of it. Foley also does a first-rate job --- does he ever --- of capturing the angst of the teenage high school male. Although TIETAM BROWN is, at least as I understand it, non-autobiographical, some of the passages certainly have the ring of truth about them.

While TIETAM BROWN is not CATCHER IN THE RYE, it is an interesting, and at times riveting, coming-of-age novel from a writer who may have a depth of talent that has yet to be plumbed.

   --- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

• Click here now to buy this book from Amazon.