Final Spin by Jocko Willink

 

Johnny is a twenty-three year old man still living at home.  Although he is bright, he works as a stockboy at a local grocery along with his best friend, Goat.  His older brother, Artie, is on the spectrum and also lives at home.  He is obsessed with cleanliness and order and wants nothing more than to be allowed to work at his job at a local laundromat where he knows everything about each machine and how to best launder any piece of clothing.

Johnny knows he needs to take care of Artie but he doesn't know what else he needs to do with his life.  He is stuck in a dead-end job and doesn't have any other ideas about what to do or how to get there.  When the owner of the laundromat tells Johnny that he's selling out, Johnny knows it will ruin Artie's life.  He and Goat come up with a plan for buying the laundromat so that Artie will always have  a job there.

This is the first work I've read by Jocko Willink.  He is known for his time in the SEALs military group and his books on leadership and discipline.  In this short novel, he turns to the relationship between brothers.  Artie is a joy for the reader to discover but I had a hard time warming up to Johnny.  Although he seems to have good intentions, his decisions are hasty and not well thought out, leading to disasters. I listened to this book and the author read it as well.   This book is recommended for readers of Willink's and those interested in brotherhood.