Pineville Trace was my first introduction to the novella in flash and I heartily enjoyed it. Pineville Trace follows Frank Russet after his escape from a minimum security prison as he reflects on his life before and works to survive in the present. For those who are also unfamiliar with the novella in flash, it is a short novel with chapters comprised of fewer than 1000 words and each chapter presents a piece of the story and may be somewhat disconnected from the previous. In Pineville Trace, this is beautifully done to be able to see glimpses throughout Frank's life without some of the dragging that may occur in a more traditional novel and by the end you really see the forest for the trees. To that end, I felt like I was kind of floating along with this book. I didn't really even understand the timing of the novel  until near then end when Frank notices that it’s 1979 via a newspaper in one of the motels he finds himself in. 

This was the truly most pleasant bait and switch where you think you’re going to hear some crazy escape story, but the escape is rather mundane, and instead, you get a tender story about a man and his cat, Buffalo. Their relationship was so wonderfully done and it made Frank into a more human character as he pondered about and cared for Buffalo. 

I listened to this as an audiobook and the narrator was outstanding. He brought all of the characters to life and brought so much depth into the performance of it.  I also really loved the musical interludes between each chapter. It gave the novella a very homey feel and paired well with the novella in flash format. 

Thank you very much to NetGalley and Mindbuck Media Audio for the advanced copy.