04/28/2025
Cole (Groundskeeping) spins an evocative tale of ambition, lust, and sibling rivalry in western Kentucky. After toiling as a line cook in New Orleans, 28-year-old Emmett comes home to Paducah, where he takes a job at a massive fulfillment warehouse for an Amazon-like retailer and rents a nearby company condo. Meanwhile, his successful older half brother, Joel, and his wife, Alice, move in with Joel and Emmett’s mother. Joel has published a well-received essay collection that mines his experience growing up in the South, and has just accepted a visiting lecture position at a local university. Emmett hopes to flex his own creativity as a screenwriter, despite having no connections or experience. After Alice admits to Emmett that her marriage is crumbling, the two begin an affair, and the plot ramps up further when Emmett’s coworker convinces him to steal pharmaceuticals for the illegal drug market. Meanwhile, Joel plugs away at his second book and starts popping antidepressants. Cole has fun with Emmett’s search for his screenplay’s “hero’s journey,” and he writes gorgeously descriptive sentences (“the earth was darker than the sky, the pink-rimmed horizon a seam between two worlds”), but the mix of hijinks and high stakes feels tonally imbalanced. Nevertheless, this captures a colorful snapshot of contemporary Southern life. Agent: Peter Straus, RCW Literary. (June)
