Last Exit Before Toll is a quiet story that sneaks up on you. I kept reading it, expecting the big twist, the big surprise, until I realized that the twist had already occurred, but it had snuck up on me slowly enough that it affected me rather than shocked me. In Last Exit Before Toll, Shaffer paints a strangely seductive portrait of life in a small, highway roadside town, one that has an air of old world congeniality and comfort even for a dyed-in-the-wool city dweller like our protagonist, Charles. It's fascinating to watch him get wrapped up in this different world, even as the reader is being slowly wrapped up in it too. The ending (and the artwork) could have used a little more punch for my taste, but there's something absolutely compelling about Last Exit Before Toll.
It's always a pleasure to read a book where I don't really know much about what's going to happen, and the story doesn't play out along predictable lines. That was definitely my experience here. Given that Shaffer's previous project was the dark, horror-tinged project One Plus One, I kept expecting there to be something supernatural about this story. To some extent, I guess there is, in the way that Charles falls under the spell of this small town, but it's not an actual supernatural occurrence, just a slightly odd but wholly believable change in his way of life. Many had said that Shaffer's previous project felt like an HBO original series... if I were to make a similar comparison, I'd say that Last Exit Before Toll reads like a Robert Altman movie.
Which is odd, because I'm generally not much of an Altman fan... too much character, too much atmosphere, not enough plot. Last Exit Before Toll does sort of follow that formula, as the story mostly involves a city guy who sort of adapts to a small town way of life. Not in a Chevy Chase Animal Farm wacky sort of way, but in a more realistic, starting to see the appeal of the simpler life kind of way. There are no sudden reversals where suddenly there's a killer. There are no big reveals that the town is actually Hell or Heaven or a dream. Instead, there are compelling, relatable scenes like Charles rediscovering a childhood comfort food or falling into a less complicated relationship or becoming friends with an older couple.
It is the characters that really makes Last Exit Before Toll work. The kindly, funny owner of the diner Rose, the likable and gentle Marty and Jeannie and the young and sweet Mary all make this town feel more real. Indeed, the town's locales also serve as character, whether it's the motel that Charles finds himself in, Rose's everyman sort of diner or Marty and Jeannie's home. The character who must keep the reader's attention, though, is Charles, and he does. The opening sequence presents a man who is a business professional, not a bad guy but certainly one focused on his career. All it takes is one monkey wrench in his schedule and a detour, however, to derail that guy and bring out aspects of his personality that have been long buried.
Given how much I enjoyed being brought into the world of Last Exit Before Toll, I really want to give it my highest recommendation. Two things stop me from doing that, one a small thing and one a fairly significant one. The smaller thing is that the book doesn't so much end as stop, and the lack of a strong plot means that there's not really much of a punchy ending. Rather than feeling like I read a story, I felt like I had taken a trip. Which actually is OK, it's just an unusual experience and may not be for everyone.
The larger complaint I have is with the artwork. Mitten's work is not bad, and it certainly tells the story, but there's a certain similarity to the look of the various people, and his style didn't quite click with me. I can see where it might in the future, as it reminds me of creators I enjoy like Guy Davis and Mike Mignola, but it felt, for lack of a better word, a little bit bland to me. In addition, the gray tones by Pietrusko seem to mute it further rather than bringing out details and shadows effectively. Now, granted, this sort of bland, muted style is good for depicting the sort of quiet setting that is at the heart of Last Exit Before Toll, but I do think a little bit more spark to the artwork would have made it more enjoyable to me.
