Cry Father by Benjamin Whitmer Published by Gallery Books on September 16th 2014
Pages: 304
Genres: Southern Gothic/Country Noir
Format: Hardcover
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Also by this author: Cry Father
In the tradition of Cormac McCarthy and Larry Brown comes a haunting story about men, their fathers, their sons, and the legacy of violence.
For Patterson Wells, disaster is the norm. Working alongside dangerous, desperate, itinerant men as a tree clearer in disaster zones, he’s still dealing with the loss of his young son. Writing letters to the boy offers some solace. The bottle gives more.
Upon a return trip to Colorado, Patterson stops to go fishing with an old acquaintance, only to find him in a meth-induced delirium and keeping a woman tied up in the bathtub. In the ensuing chain of events, which will test not only his future but his past, Patterson tries to do the right thing. Still, in the lives of those he knows, violence and justice have made of each other strange, intoxicating bedfellows.
Hailed as "the next great American writer" (Frank Bill, author of Crimes in Southern Indiana), Benjamin Whitmer has crafted a literary triumph that is by turns harrowing, darkly comic, and wise.
About Benjamin Whitmer
Benjamin Whitmer was born in 1972 and raised on back-to-the-land communes and counterculture enclaves ranging from Southern Ohio to Upstate New York. One of his earliest and happiest memories is of standing by the side of a country road with his mother, hitchhiking to parts unknown. Since then, he has been a factory grunt, a vacuum salesman, a convalescent, a high-school dropout, a semi-truck loader, an activist, a kitchen-table gunsmith, a squatter, a college professor, a dishwasher, a technical writer, and a petty thief. He has also published fiction and non-fiction in a number of magazines, anthologies, and essay collections. Pike is his first novel.
He lives with his wife and two children in Colorado, where he spends most of his free time trolling local histories and haunting the bookshops, blues bars, and firing ranges of ungentrified Denver. Right now, he’s probably sitting with a book in hand, staring out his window and dreaming of a tar paper shack somewhere in the Rockies, about fifty miles removed from his nearest neighbor.
Comparing a book to Cormac McCarthy and Larry Brown is instantly intriguing. The summary has a southern gothic/country noir feel so I’ll definitely be picking this one up.
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Tammy @ Books, Bones & Buffy
This looks stunning. I don’t have time to read much contemporary these days, but I’m intrigued by this book. Plus that cover is disturbing for some reason…great choice!
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Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies
Wow, sounds incredibly intense. Probably too violent to suit my taste in books right now, but I’ll need to keep it in mind for when I’m up for expanding my horizons! I hope you enjoy — will look forward to hearing your thoughts on this one.
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Heidi
Hmm I am curious, I love books set in the South but this is outside what I usually read.
Heidi recently posted…Review: Dangerous Creatures(Dangerous Creatures #1) by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Rachel @ Paper Cuts
Ooh, wow, this sounds good! Definitely sounds country noir. I loved The Road, so a comparison to Cormac McCarthy sells me! 😀 Great pick Bonnie!
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