• Reading Group Guide

Rich characters make for rich and rewarding novels. Without a
character to cheer for, or sneer at, what difference does it make
what the character is doing throughout a story? Darin Strauss makes
rich characters. His first novel, the highly acclaimed CHANG AND
ENG, recreated the lives of the famed Siamese twins, making them
come alive once more, and made their characters entirely different,
making them separate even though they were attached. His new novel,
THE REAL McCOY, brings characters to life once more. This time it's
"Kid" McCoy, loosely based on a real man --- a boxer, a charlatan,
a lover, a scam artist. It not only brings McCoy back to life but
America at the turn of the century as well.

Strauss likes research. It took him three years to work on CHANG
AND ENG, and it would seem that he spent just as much time on THE
REAL McCOY, bringing our past into crisp and astounding clarity.
Similar to CARTER BEATS THE DEVIL by Glen David Gold and THE LOST
DAUGHTER OF HAPPINESS by Geling Yan, the readers' senses take in
the story, the characters, and life during a legendary time in
American history.

The story opens: "Here was a champion before he closed his hand
into a fist. The boy's gumption was like the full steam of a
locomotive. Plus he was a born liar. 'Kid' McCoy (born Virgil
Selby, but he keeps that under wraps, unless, of course, it helps
in a scam) is a wiry fellow and one who knows how to fight
(particularly since learning a corkscrew punch from flimflammer
extraordinaire Johnnie Gold, a Chinese con man he met at a work
camp out West). Better yet, he knows how to get ahead, whether it's
scamming someone out of two bits, two thousand dollars, or the
championship belt (fixing fights doesn't bother in the slightest,
particularly if he gets ahead because of it). He's also popular
with the ladies, married a few times over. And, of course, there's
the jewel heist to consider."

Told from various points in time (sometimes hampering the
excitement of McCoy's life and times), McCoy's life unfolds slowly
before us. We like him, swindles and double-crossing and scams and
bigamy and all of it. We don't always agree with what he does but
we cheer for him anyway. He's too passionate about it all not to
like him.

Strauss has himself another literary knockout with his new novel.
It's a book I can imagine Jack London writing or, at the very
least, enjoying reading. It shows that Strauss, in regard to
writing quality, entertaining novels, is the real McCoy in his own
right.