I read this book based on a Goodreads friend's review. Like her, I wondered what I was getting into for the first 30 pages and then the story began to pick up and I found it very entertaining. It is a very quick read and offers quite a bit of dark humor - qualities I like. The fairly singular plot is complicated, yet intriguing. The dialogue moves quickly and is very realistic. I liked it! ( )

The novel All That I Have was my first experience with the author Castle Freeman Jr. But it certainly won’t be my last. This is a captivating story about Sheriff Lucian Wing as he faces the trials and tribulations of his daily life. In his quiet, laconic manner this Vermont country sheriff deals with both domestic concerns about his marriage, local crime enforcement, and an upcoming election.

For Lucien, being sheriff is like being a shepherd guiding his flock. He would rather resolve most encounters peacefully, without resorting to gun-play or violence. When a local bad boy makes the mistake of stealing something from the home of a Russian gangster, Lucien knows that he must retrieve and return the stolen item, get the local boy to safety and encourage the Russians to leave his county. Concealing his sharp wit and keeping a low profile with no uniform and no gun, Lucien is often underestimated but he understands people and knows how to get the job done.

All That I Have is a brilliantly written story. The author uses sparse prose, but each word fits perfectly. The humor comes from his knowledge of people and how they think and act. I was reminded of another favorite character, Sheriff Walt Longmire of Wyoming, both of these men are thoughtful, caring of their community and use humor as a very effective weapon. I listened to an audio version of the story as read by Steven Roy Grimsley, whose voice fit the story perfectly. I highly recommend All That I Have by Castle Freeman Jr. ( )

Okay, so, yeah, I'm likely biased as the book is set in Vermont, but, hey! I've disliked many a book set in Veremont. But Freeman gets Vermont. Someone asked me the other day why anyone at all lives here (or , I suppose places like North Dakota). I don't know why anyone would live in North Dakota, but I know I live here because I like the attitude that, so far has continued to prevail despite pressures. That is an unlikely mix of respect for the individual and a reliance on community. Not logical, definitely not quite rational, this attitude could even be described as inconsistebnt, contradictory or paradoxical. So here we have the county sheriff, Lucian Wing, a man trained in the old school style, that in a small community where you really know everyone you take each person as they come. If something is not as it should be you don't slam the law down, you wait to see what develops, and if you stretch the law here and there in order to give a rambunctious youth a second (or third) chance, well, it ain't broke, merely stretched. State police enforce law, sheriffs, according to Wing, have a different mandate. When people come in (in this case Russian criminals stowing money in real estate) who don't respect the locals or the local ways, when their mansion is robbed and they are angry, and you all know who did it, you wait them out too, coldly and determinedly, and like a coyote (we have lots of them), you outwit them, even surprise them into respecting you. Anyway it's a great story, well told. ***** ( )

When a Vermont state trooper finds a naked man tied to a tree, for Sheriff Lucian Wing it's the beginning of a run of knotty problems with his mercurial wife, intransigent underlings and Russian mobsters. Wing steers by the advice he was given by his aging mentor, which is 50 percent judicious wisdom and 50 percent cornpone gibberish. Freeman endows his leading man with a likable calm, though, and keeps the action moving crisply along, making "All That I Have" an estimable sequel to his first novel "Go With Me" (2007). From the WASHINGTON POST, 4/29/09 ( )

I lost interest halfway through, but probably only because another book was calling me. What I read was pretty good, but slow.