Son of a Gun, the new memoir by
Justin St. Germain, at first glance appears to be simply a son’s eulogy to his
murdered mother. But it is much more
than that because of how St. Germain uses his mother’s story to reflect also upon
the precarious blue collar struggle so many people face today, one in which one
missed paycheck can throw an entire family into the kind of tailspin from which
it might take years to recover – if they ever do manage the trick.
Former
Army paratrooper Debbie St. Germain was an extraordinary woman who met what
some would say was a predictable end for a woman whose taste in men was always
a little iffy. When she was only 44, her
fifth husband, a burned out ex-cop who saw himself as something of a modern day
Wyatt Earp, murdered her. That he and
Debbie claimed nearby Tombstone, Arizona, as their hometown made it easier for
her killer to maintain his deluded self-image.
Tombstone is, of course, the site of Earp’s infamous “Showdown at the
O.K. Corral,” the short burst of gunfire that ensured his reputation as one of
the fiercest gunfighters of his day.
 |
| Justin St. Germain |
Debbie
met her fate in September 2001, just days after the horrors of 9-11. At the time, Justin was a 20-year-old student
living with his brother in Tucson where the two were struggling to make ends
meet. Justin knew that he would never
have been able to afford school without the financial sacrifices his
hardworking mother gladly made on his behalf.
But that was the least of his concerns; now his mother was dead and he and
his brother were stunned by the suddenness of it. Despite their shock - especially since he was
nowhere to be found after the murder – the boys were certain that Ray, husband
number five, was responsible for taking their mother from them.
Some
ten years later, the author felt ready to try to make sense of what happened to
his mother. He returned to Tombstone and
began talking to people who knew his mother in ways a son can never know her. He studied police case records in hope that
he would learn more about Ray, the unbalanced loner with whom she was living on
an isolated patch of ground on the day he ended her life. Justin St. Germain learned much about his
mother and her death that he did not know, including what hers and her killer’s
final moments were probably like, but he already knew the most important thing
about her: she did not leave him. And he
is determined to be the man she wanted him to be.
Bottom
Line: Son of a Gun is a touching memoir that takes a hard look at a gun
culture whose victims are most often individuals very much like his mother,
people struggling not so much to get ahead but simply to stay even. This is their story.
(Review Copy provided by Publisher)
