Now Is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson

 

Reviewed by Kristin

In the summer of 1996, two teenagers in Coalfield, Tennessee created something that turned their small town upside down, and made waves of paranoia ripple throughout the nation. It all started with an unknown but vaguely familiar phrase:

The edge is a shantytown filled with gold seekers. We are fugitives, and the law is skinny with hunger for us.

Frankie is filling her summer trying to write a novel featuring a villainous teen girl who is much cleverer than her police chief father or her girl detective sister. Take that, Nancy Drew. Frankie meets Zeke at the public pool and finds herself strangely drawn to this boy from Memphis visiting his grandmother for the summer. Zeke is an artist, a fellow creative type alongside Frankie.

Zeke challenges Frankie to write something—anything—and he will create illustrations. Frankie takes a deep breath, and writes, “The edge is a shantytown filled with gold seekers. We are fugitives, and the law is skinny with hunger for us.” The phrase comes from somewhere deep inside, and Frankie instantly believes it is the best thing she has ever written.

Thanks to Frankie’s older triplet brothers stealing a Xerox machine last year (and promptly jamming it making photocopies of their butts, then abandoning it in the garage), she and Zeke make 120 copies of the poster and hang them all over the town. It’s just a lark, and they hope to create a little buzz and make people talk about it. Nothing ever happens in Coalfield.

People do talk about the poster and quickly become obsessed by it. Some are certain it is the work of Satan worshippers, or kidnappers, or homicidal maniacs. People are sure that it must a lyric from an obscure band, or something that they just can’t put their finger on. Copycats abound, and people do many foolish things in the name of being fugitives.

That one little phrase, that one little poster, changed the lives of many.

Kevin Wilson has a talent for writing real page-turners. I could not stop reading, and I did not want to stop, (except for the dread of running out of pages). Wilson can build characters quickly and keep readers engaged in his plots. I also read Nothing to See Here, (reviewed by Jeanne) and absolutely loved it. Wilson’s characters are quirky, but somehow totally believable even when they do strange things, like burst into flames. So yes, his writing is a little fantastical at time, but oh so enjoyable.