Book review: The Sisters Brothers, by Patrick DeWitt, Granta

Adult fiction, western-noir, a first-person POV tale of redemption.  Two murderers for hire travel to the West coast to make a hit for their boss and it all goes wrong, along the way and on the hit itself.  All told in low tones from the brother lowest in the pecking order. 

What I learned: telling a story in mild dialect is effective to establish time, place, mood and character, as is a self-aware unreliable narrator in expressing best those emotions that link the reader to the characters.  While the events are a roller-coaster action-wise, they're muted by the voice of the narrator, who is depressed and fed-up with his life.  This doesn't, however, mute the engagement I felt with him and the story.  In fact the self-deprecating earthiness of the narrator grounds the tale.  It feels more real.  I like.