THE GONE DEAD

The novel is beautifully written throughout, with descriptions of the land, sounds, and even Billie's dog, Rufus, especially enthralling. (starred review)

“Every chapter in The Gone Dead yields a surprise. . . . Benz's Delta is portrayed with care and depth. . . . She traces with nuance and subtlety the stagnant trail of race relations. . . . Her gift for weaving these insights into a gripping narrative, establish Benz as an adept critic and storyteller.” —New York Times Book Review “A powerful look at a region constantly haunted by its past.... Benz proved herself to be a master storyteller with her short story collection, and that talent is on full display.... An excellent novel from an author who writes with real grace and a wisdom beyond her years.” —National Public Radio “[Benz] captures human interaction with the polish of a seasoned dramatist, armed with a bevy of tools — a feel for smooth dialogue; a rich sense of place; a knowledge of history and its impact on individuals, families, and communities — that charge her words with authenticity.... Note-perfect.” —Entertainment Weekly “The past shadows Billie when she goes back to Mississippi after 30 years to extract the truth from the riddle of her father's death.... A taut, voltaic novel.” —O, the Oprah Magazine) “Haunting.... The first line of this impressive novel sets the stage for what follows: ‘It is not exactly as she was picturing'.... What follows is an interrogation of memory, race, and the way that stories define our lives.... The novel retains this tension right up to its final pages.“ —Ploughshares "The Gone Dead is a startling work that will set your skin tingling and interrupt your sleep. It explores racial issues - old, new and forever unsettled - but to define a novel this sweeping by those terms alone seems too reductionist . Reading Benz is exciting and unnerving. She excels at capturing the moods and subtle gradations of her characters who can be upstanding but also shady at times, playing fast and loose with morality . one of the most prominent voices of her generation based on how good this book is.” —The Washington Post

“A rich, arresting exploration of racial injustice and the long shadows cast by family legacy.... Propulsive from the outset, culminating in a wrenching final scene.... A beautiful and devastating portrait of the modern South.”

Finalist for The Center for Fiction's first novel prize

"The greatest novels in my world are nearly all placed in Mississippi. The Gone Dead is one of the greatest novels ever placed Mississippi. The southern novel will never be the same after this book. Billie James, the protagonist of The Gone Dead holds more mystery, lyricism, tragedy, nuance than most characters I've read in recent years. It seems almost unfair to contemporary writers that Chanelle Benz has created a plot that is equally fresh as Billie James herself. Somehow, the narrator and narrative tug at Mississippi's past and future will equal force. Writers were not supposed to be able to do what Benz does in The Gone Dead. Somehow, she did it and she made it all seem so easy." —Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy “Chanelle Benz has the power and grace to make the quiet stunning and the explosive beautiful. The Gone Dead is a wonderous exploration of pain and confrontation of its sources. The novel is one of discovery and in the journey of it you feel as though you've earned truths to be felt long after you've put the book down.” —Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, author of Friday Black “Wise and assured, Chanelle Benz's The Gone Dead plunges the reader into a fraught and complicated homecoming of sorts, the South you return to after a life away, a place you never really knew, a place where you may or may not belong, full of secrets about yourself, your family a place where old threats that should be long gone are real and immediate and dangerous. Benz's prose is insightful and surprising, chock-full of beautiful sentences that demand re-reading.” —James McLaughlin, author of Bearskin

"Most anticipated in Spring 2018" mentions in: Bustle, Crime Reads, Esquire, Los Angeles Times, and LitHub.

The author excels at capturing authentic turns of phrase, but the book really shines in its exploration of other characters. Sections carried by Lola, Carlotta, Jim McGee and even Avalon, an old juke joint Billie's father used to frequent, showcase Benz's ability to assume a vast array of distinct, heartfelt voices, her knack for understanding and revealing complex human behavior. (...) Her attention to the recurring nature of racism in this country, and her gift for weaving these insights into a gripping narrative, establish Benz as an adept critic and storyteller.

France: Editions du Seuil