I really struggled with this book. We road trip regularly, and I was envisioning that Finn Murphy would share his stories about characters and places he visited. Instead, he spends WAY too much time describing the trucking business and judging the states he drives through. I was sorely disappointed. I am almost always like Indie Next picks. I do not understand how this one was picked for that honor.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I requested this book for review, but it appeared at the right time to peak my curiosity. My uncle, now 84 years old was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer recently. He was a long distance trucker for most of his life. For my uncle there was no question he loved his job and missed every moment he wasn't on the road. This book appeared a couple of days after my visit with him at the hospital. My curiosity with the truckers life was peaked and so I began the book. The author is articulate, humorous and portrays a culture that few of us are exposed to. The book was riddled with interesting trivia, history and much more. The author was also just as passionate with this little known career. It was far from boring and I looked forward to reading it until the end. Thanks so much for allowing me the opportunity to review this book.

This book is about what it says in the title, told from the viewpoint of a “bedbugger” which is a long-haul mover. The intro made me realize I had a preconception about truckers. “This guy Finn Murphy could write,” I thought. And, well why not? Just because he drives a truck doesn’t mean he isn’t intelligent. The only “trucker” I really know is very intelligent.

Murphy early on tells us in the hierarchy of truckers they are the lowest, and don’t find much comradery with other truckers at the main stops and fuel stations. The reason he muses later is that they don’t have a regular route, they are all over the country from one day to the next. Without that regular route you don’t establish a strong connection with the waitresses, fuel personnel or other folks that service the trucks that move all of our goods.

As I read on I found that while he can turn a phrase his book needed something more, it lacked a little focus or purpose. There are some good stories here, but there just didn’t seem to be the arc of purpose like, why is he writing this book? If it’s just to tell the readers what it’s like driving a truck and being a moving guy, well then that should have been stated goal. But if it was more about, what I suspect it is: why Finn Murphy started to move people’s stuff and what he learned during his life being a mover and trucker, well, it the book didn’t end on that note. Close though. And there were moments where the trail was lost. Also there were moments when he had strong social commentary, such as the mom-and-pop business gone, downtown’s gone. While I agree with his sentiment, the way it was told in the book wasn’t the best way to write about it. A stronger way would have been to show what happens, and not create curse words either. Also, there were occasions where the jargon was a little too much, or not explained.

Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy the book, but it didn’t end up being a five star great book, like I initially hoped it would. I did learn about his life on the road, a few more things about trucks I didn’t know before. I also may look at my stuff in a different light the next time I move.