What I'm Currently Reading

Classics? Self-help books? Not for this Reader's Digest editor

- Andy Simmons

Andy's Speeding Ticket is a riveting crime drama about "reckless driving," a "bald tire" and "a left-rear light" out. The sad ending finds our protagonist $300 poorer. But that's just skimming the surface of this complex and deep work, written by an Officer Kinney.

In fact, what's not said is just as compelling as the written word on the page. In its essence, Andy's Speeding Ticket is a timeless tale of a father being driven out of his mind by the endless repetition of a Taylor Swift CD all the way from Rochester to New York City. But as our central character presses down on the pedal in a vain attempt to get home faster and regain whatever sanity he might have lost along the way, his odyssey takes an unexpected detour. Suddenly he is pulled over by the only state trooper within a 100 km, a particularly sadistic man who let escape that idiot in the Camaro-the one who was weaving in and out of traffic and pushing the speedometer into triple-digit territory while flipping Andy the bird when he beeped-just to get our hero.

NOTABLE QUOTE: "If you wish to contest this ticket..."