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www.david-joy.com

WHEN THESE MOUNTAINS BURN

David Joy

The acclaimed author and "remarkably gifted storyteller" (the Charlotte Observer) returns here with a fierce and tender tale of a father, an addict, a lawman, and the explosive events that come to unite them.
When his addict son gets in deep with his dealer, it takes everything Raymond Mathis has to bail him out of trouble one last time. Frustrated by the slow pace and limitations of the law, Raymond decides to take matters into his own hands.

After a workplace accident left him out of a job and in pain, Denny Rattler has spent years chasing his next high. He supports his habit through careful theft, following strict rules that keep him under the radar and out of jail. But when faced with opportunities too easy to resist, Denny makes two choices that change everything.

And for months, the Drug Enforcement Agency has been chasing the drug supply in the mountains to no avail, when a lead - just one word - sets one agent on a path to crack the case wide open. But he'll need help from the most unexpected quarter.

As chance brings together these men from different sides of a relentless epidemic, each may come to find that his opportunity for redemption lies with the others.

David Joy is the author of The Line That Held Us (winner of the SIBA Book Prize), The Weight of This World, and Where All Light Tends to Go (an Edgar finalist for Best First Novel). He lives in Sylva, North Carolina.
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Published 2020-08-18 by Putnam

Comments

Joy's North Carolina noir takes readers on a white-knuckle ride through an opioid- and wildfire-ravaged region of the Smoky Mountains. In 2016, with the Tellico fire smoldering in the background, a retired forester gets a nightmarish phone call. He must pay his pill-addicted son's debt to a pusher in Cherokee country, or else he'll be killed. The hardboiled prose crackles as the story becomes an unforgettable tale of father and son. Read more...

Appalachian noir at its finest... Joy's storytelling is top-notch (and not for the faint of heart), and you'll find yourself turning pages deep into the night. But it's his knack for capturing a sense of place that really brings the hammer down. Read more...

Eliot interviews author David Joy about his latest novel WHEN THESE MOUNTAINS BURN. Read more...

Revelatory... Indelible characters from every side of the law converge in this fast-moving story. As fine a piece of writing as you are ever likely to encounter.

...David Joy has written a timely, poignant masterpiece. When These Mountains Burn is the kind of book that readers will return to again and again. There is so much to discover in his writing full as it is of beautifully constructed sentences and insightful characterisation. His debut, Where All Lights Tend to Go, was nominated for an Edgar Award. Who's to say When These Mountains Burn won't go one better. Read more...

Unforgettably powerful... What stands out here isn't the story [but] rather Joy's unflinching and gritty depiction of his fully realized characters, from their raw loss to their helplessness and rage to their final acceptance. Joy has thoroughly captured their experiences in vivid, memorable prose that burns to be read. Read more...

Outstanding... When These Mountains Burn is a crime novel, surely - and a damn good one - but it's also a snapshot of small-town America at a fracture point, when the least of the concerns is the fire that could consume everyone, all at once. Read more...

The story is fast-moving, the characters are richly fleshed out, and despite its gritty settings and subject matter, wraps up with a sense of redemption and hope for the possibility of better days ahead. Simply put, Joy is at the top of his game.

David Joy is on the week! ... David talks with us about his writing, his books his hunting and fishing. Read more...

This is the sort of novel I love. No worldwide conspiracies, or super crimes. Just flawed folks making bad choices, then having to live with the deadly consequences. David Joy has quickly become one of my favorite authors in the tradition of such fine novelists as Larry Brown and William Gay. Highly recommended.

Slow-burning... With memorable characters, deft plotting, and an attention to detail, Joy has written a powerful work of crime fiction. Read more...

Joy portrays his characters with unflinching realism. Creative turns of phrase and creative colloquialisms move the story forward and keep the otherwise disheartening subject matter full of thrilling surprises. As Southern noir-tinged fiction gains a well-deserved audience, Joy is one voice that never disappoints. Read more...

[An] engrossing drama of violence and vengeance... Joy's razor-sharp prose details disturbing, graphic images of brutality that begin when Raymond resolves to protect his son... Joy handles everything with ease, proving himself to be one hell of a writer. Read more...

French: Sonatine