Double Wide

Written by Leo W. Banks

Narrated by Shawn Compton

After fastball phenom Prospero Stark's baseball career craters in a Mexican jail, he retreats to a trailer park in the scorching Arizona desert. He lives in peaceful anonymity with a collection of colorful outcasts until someone leaves his former catcher's severed hand on his doorstep. Beautiful, hard-living reporter Roxanne Santa Cruz, who keeps a .380 Colt and a bottle of Chivas in her car, joins Stark to help him uncover his friend's fate, a dangerous pursuit that pits them against a ruthless gang of drug-dealing killers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Oct 9, 2018
• ISBN: 9781541445659

Reviews for Double Wide

[zmagic69 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A light easy read, I expected it to be more gritty, but it isn’t. It is likely the beginning of a series, the main characters are likable and well developed, the editing is sloppy in spots and the story isn’t very plausible but it was enjoyable.

[samsattler · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Double Wide by Leo W. Banks is both the author’s debut novel (2017) and the first book in his two-book Whip Stark series. Banks has also been a correspondent for several newspapers and has written articles for magazines such as Sports Illustrated, National Review, and The Los Angeles Times Magazine. In addition, Banks is a regular columnist for True West magazine and has authored four books on Old West history. Whip (Prospero) Stark, the main character of Double Wide, is a young man with an interesting personal history. Stark is a superior athlete who just a few years earlier possessed the kind of fastball that seemed destined to carry him to the top tier of professional baseball. Unfortunately for Stark, his baseball career came to a screeching halt in Mexico where he was playing ball there and preparing himself to make the big leap into the majors. But instead of moving up to the next level, Stark moved to a Mexican jail cell after he was wrongly charged with cocaine possession.These days Stark contents himself with managing a small piece of property he owns in the desert outside Tucson that he calls “Double Wide.” He lives there in his own double wide trailer among a handful of other trailers that he rents out to any of society’s misfits who are content to live in the middle of nowhere with him. Stark is, in fact, called the mayor of Double Wide by his little community, a responsibility he takes seriously.Whip Stark, though, has his self-contained little world rocked mightily one day when someone leaves a severed hand outside his trailer for him to find — a tattooed hand Stark easily recognizes as one two belonging to his former catcher in the Mexican League. Stark will not be able to rest until he learns the whole truth about what has happened to his friend. But is he searching for a dead body or a still-breathing man with one hand? After his initial efforts catch the unwanted attention of a Mexican drug cartel honcho, Stark is pretty sure that his friend is beyond rescue. Double Wide is full of offbeat characters willing to risk it all (not that they have all that much to lose) to help the mayor of Double Wide, Arizona, find out what happened to his missing friend. But it’s when Stark catches the attention of Roxanne Santa Cruz, a former teenaged stripper now turned on-air reporter for a Tucson TV station, that things really get wild as the pair fearlessly takes on anyone who stands in their way of learning the truth. And that means anyone.Bottom Line: Double Wide is one of those violently bloody crime novels that can somehow best be described as humorous and lighthearted. Whip Stark and most of the side characters use wisecracks to lighten whatever situation they find themselves in, and Stark, as narrator, is particularly funny when addressing the reader with snappy little asides as he tells his story. That can be a lot of fun, but it does not always make for a realistic crime novel, and that’s the case here. It’s hard for the reader to take Double Wide completely seriously, but if you prefer crime novels with a lighter approach, this is one I think you will love.

[aliceanna-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Meh. I liked the main character, but I just couldn't get into this one. The plot was a little too convoluted and it dragged for me. It wasn't a particularly long book, but it took me forever to read. I had high hopes for an ex-baseball player mystery character since I love baseball, but that wasn't enough to keep my interest.

[melissajerome · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

this was a quick read, an enjoyable romp with some interesting characters and places. i particularly enjoyed the baseball references, an exposure to a little-known about world, at least for me. the main character was likable but the girl reporter seemed a bit forced and not as believable as Whip. i'd read more about Whip and his band of misfits.

[dokfintong · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Leo Banks pitches a perfect game with "Double Wide", the story of a disgraced baseball pitcher who is pulled out of involuntary retirement by the murder of his friend.Whip Stark knows that he lives in smuggling country and follows a policy of see no evil, hear no evil. Then one night a severed hand is left on his porch and a body (with two hands) is found up the road. Stark's quiet, if eccentric, life is disrupted. Stark's fight against the drug cartel is supported by a team of players from local TV reporter, law enforcement, minor league baseball, and his own little community of Double Wide, Arizona. Mr. Banks, who by day is an award-winning journalist, smoothly draws us into this world. His descriptions of the American Southwest are lovely.I received a review copy of "Double Wide" by Leo W. Banks (Brash) directly from the publisher.

[davewilde-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Desert NoirOut in the hot dry Sonoran desert surrounding Tucson, you have trailer outposts where people escape from the world, abandoned mines, washed up Minor League players, strip clubs, Narco-gunman, and of course the Biosphere 2. It is a world that at times feels more akin to the Wild West of Tombstone than to modern Tucson. The Phenom, a guy whose pitching future had nearly no parallels, until has arm fell apart and his confidence fell apart, and he got busted with drugs down in Mexico, bought a big ole Airstream and holed up in the desert with a few odd tenants and runaways. And, things rattled along until one day he opens his front door and finds his friends arm. And then things get a little dicey as solving they mystery with an ace reporter in spiked heels at his side leads to machete wielding narco smugglers, mad scientists, and back to the ballpark.

[navyjoe98 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I received this book as part of the Early Reviewer program.This book is about a former professional baseball player named Whp Stark who owns a trailer park in a small town called Double Wide, AZ. When Whip comes across the severed hand of his former catcher, he sets out on a series of adventures to find out what happened to his catcher/friend. Along the way, his relationships with his tenants that he rents to are explored.I’m torn about this book. Some of the relationships that Whip is involved with are very interesting. I guess I feel like there was too many things trying to be done in the plot (many subplots) and the author didn’t fully flesh any of them out. For example, Whip keeps visiting his Dad whose serving time in prison for a murder. Whip goes and visits his dad every week and there’s a couple of chapters that focus on this. Looking back at these chapters, they really didn’t have anything to do with the murder mystery and could of been cut from the book.Don’t get me wrong, overall the characters were enjoyable and I found myself laughing in some parts of the book. I liked Whip, his tenants and his girlfriend Roxanne who is a reporter. I even liked his little dog Chico.....Overall, a decent read. I would probably read something else by this author again in the future.

[papalaz_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Double Wide by Leo Banks is a decent thriller stroke investigation story that takes you into the worlds of drug running, baseball cheating, and trailer living. Not so run of the mill as it might sound this is an engaging read well plotted and developed. It quickly engages the reader and rewards often enough to keep the pages turning. An engaging read that will not challenge or bore you.

[drled_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Synopsis: Whip Stark is a washed up baseball pitcher who's been arrested for drugs in Mexico; he's gotten out of jail and made a place for himself out in the dessert.One evening he finds a box on his doorstep; it contains the had of his best friend. Whip, and the other misfits that occupy Double Wide, are pulled in to a web of drug smuggling, murder and the fixing of baseball games.Review: This is the best 'new author' I've read in a very long time. The hard boiled presentation is supported by the format of the book - short, choppy chapters. The characters ring true throughout, and the story moves right along. I'm impressed.