Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Burning Bright by Ron Rash; and Other Appalachian and Other Appalachian Authors

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Burning Bright by Ron Rash; and Other Appalachian ...:   The Bristol Public Library together with Washington County Virginia Public Library System and the Birthplace of Country Music Museum were ...

Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Nothing But the Bones by Brian Panowich

Brian Panowich continues his multi-generational saga about the Burroughs crime family on Bull Mountain in McFalls County, Georgia, with Nothing But the Bones (Minotaur Books, April 2024). Most of the action takes place before the later events of Bull Mountain. The book is broken into three segments, the first one set in 1989, the second one in 1996, and the third one in 2007.

Misfit Nelson McKenna was born crippled, his family abused and mistreated him, then he was rejected by most of the world until Gareth Burroughs took him in as a teenager and diverted his formidable strength into an enforcer role for Burroughs’ criminal activities.

One night at a club McKenna sees a woman being mistreated and loses his temper, killing the bully in full view of a number of people. Burroughs doesn’t have enough political pull to protect McKenna from the legal consequences, so he gives him a place to run to and enough money to pay for the trip.

The mistreated woman invites herself along and the two hesitantly bond during the drive to Jacksonville, Florida, discovering both had been damaged by their parents and exploited by others. Clayton Burroughs, Gareth’s youngest son and the conscience of the Burroughs family, finds McKenna to bring him back to Georgia. Things go sideways rapidly in a series of inhumanely violent events that miraculously converge to deliver hope and happiness for both of the main characters, who are amazing creations.

The definition of family, of friendship, and of loyalty is explored here in the context of the poverty and hopelessness of rural Appalachian Georgia. Beautifully and powerfully written, this book is compulsively readable despite the brutality and callousness much of it portrays. I was immediately immersed and it was hard to put the book down. The time shifts are straightforward here and easier to follow than I found the repeated chronological disruptions of Bull Mountain. Not an easy read but fans of southern noir will welcome this addition to the Bull Mountain canon.

 

·         Publisher: Minotaur Books (April 16, 2024)

·         Language: ‎English

·         Hardcover: ‎336 pages

·         ISBN-10: ‎1250835240

·         ISBN-13‏: ‎978-1250835246

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3Q5yTU3

 

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2024 

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.

Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Bull Mountain by Brian Panowich

 

Bull Mountain (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2015) is Brian Panowich’s blockbuster debut. The book won the 2016 Thriller Award for Best First Novel and the Southern Book Prize for Best Mystery. It was shortlisted for the Barry Award, the Anthony Award, The Georgia Townsend Book Prize, and the LA Times Book Prize. It was also selected for the 2016 Books All Georgians Should Read list by the Georgia Center of the Book. Its sequel Like Lions (Minotaur, 2019) is considered equally good, if not better.

Set in northern Georgia, this is the story of three generations of the Burroughs crime family who own most of Bull Mountain, where they make a living from producing and distributing first moonshine, then marijuana, and finally methamphetamine.

The entire family is involved in its illicit enterprises. They view themselves as a unit separate and apart from the rest of the world. “Family” is a word that crops up often, starting with the first chapter in 1949 and carrying through to the end. Deciding to work with a gun-running outfit in Florida was a big step; outsiders had long been viewed with suspicion. Echoes of the Corleones in The Godfather resonate in the background.

Finally in the third generation, Clayton Burroughs walks away from the family organization. Similar to the network television series Justified, where Raylan Givens enters law enforcement to separate himself from his career criminal father, Clayton Burroughs becomes the local sheriff, mostly to earn an honest living to please the woman he wanted to marry. He makes no attempt to enforce the law on Bull Mountain, even if state and Federal authorities stage occasional raids. Eventually an FBI agent approaches him with a plan to close the Burroughs’ lawless activities down for good and Clayton agrees to try it.

It is hard to say much about this book without giving away essential plot elements. Shockingly violent and brutal, the story is riveting from the first pages. I read it through in one sitting. I did find the disjointed chronology disruptive; the chapters move back and forth from 1949 to 2015 and points in between. I sometimes had to stop reading to check the chapter heading to orient myself.

An incredibly good book and an intriguing contribution to contemporary Southern fiction. Fans of Justified, the Colson Quinn stories by Ace Atkins, or the Wolfe crime family books by James Carlos Blake will likely enjoy this series.

·         Publisher: ‎ G.P. Putnam's Sons; First Edition (July 7, 2015)

·         Language: ‎ English

·         Hardcover: ‎ 304 pages

·         ISBN-10: ‎ 039917396X

·         ISBN-13: ‎ 978-0399173967

  

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2021

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.

Crime Watch Review: LIKE LIONS by Brian Panowich

Crime Watch: Review: LIKE LIONS: LIKE LIONS by Brian Panowich (Minotaur Books, 2019) Reviewed by Craig Sisterson Clayton Burroughs is a small-town Georgia sheriff, a new fat...

Crime City Review: HARD CASH VALLEY by Brian Panowich

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