Burn What Will Burn

April 11, 2016
Despite having plenty of family money, Bob Reynolds, the narrator of this gritty, atmospheric crime novel from Edgar-finalist McKenzie (Bad Country), seeks refuge in an old rundown home in Rushing, Ark., to avoid the Houston police, who suspect he might have been responsible for the recent fatal drowning of his wife in their bathtub. Bob, happily a loner in this isolated small town, has his serenity disturbed when he discovers a man’s body in Little Piney Creek near his property. Bob reports the matter to Sheriff Baxter, only to find that the sheriff is familiar with his past and distrustful of his character and sanity. Suddenly, Bob is embroiled in the murder investigation, fearing he may be charged with committing the crime. Among the several entertaining and offbeat characters are a disreputable woman to whom Bob is wildly attracted, a former university professor who leveraged sex from students, and a cafe owner with family issues. The well-executed plot builds to a clever, somewhat farcical ending.

April 15, 2016
A reclusive poet learns to survive in an Arkansas town rife with secrets. Bob Reynolds moved from Texas to Doker, Arkansas, after the deaths of his wife and everyone else important in his life. A fiscal conservative, he spent little of the family money he inherited to move into a broken-down old house near Doker, where his company includes a few chickens and several extremely odd neighbors. Reynolds' troubles start when he finds the body of a dead man in The Little Piney Creek. The empty scabbard on his body is stamped "Buck," but other than a ring on a chain around his neck, a single unfired cartridge, and some XXL condoms, he carries nothing that could help identify him. When Reynolds finally gets in touch with Sheriff Sam Baxter and they return to the creek, the body is gone. Reynolds is uneasy when he realizes that Baxter may be looking to arrest him, and he finds himself in jail after he's knocked out while snooping on the property near the creek. Upon his release, the local doctor gives him some information about the tangled relationships that sometimes go back generations and adds a warning that a trip to Hot Springs might be a good idea. Reynolds does get out of town for a while, but not leaving well enough alone may be the death of him. Thematically very different than McKenzie's outstanding first novel (Bad Country, 2014). But the prose is just as pure and the story just as riveting.

COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

June 1, 2016

Bob Reynolds doesn't recognize the body in Little Piney Creek, but he is a newcomer to the small town of Rushing, AR. A poet and a drunk, "whose skin was as thick against success as it was against failure," he wants to do his civic duty. When county sheriff Sam Baxter arrives to investigate, the victim has disappeared. Bob has suffered from some mental health issues, but he is currently off all medications. Who was the drowned man with the tattoo Bob swears he saw in the creek, and will Bob be next on the missing list? VERDICT Following the Edgar Award-nominated Bad Country, McKenzie takes another fascinating look at life in rural America. The lyrical writing balances out the bleakness of his protagonist's existence.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2016
On his morning walk, Bob Reynolds finds a body floating in a creek. Reynolds' reaction is puzzling. He doesn't call the authorities. Rather, he robs the corpse, taking a gold chain from around its neck. Then he wanders off and loses interest in the body. Some readers may lose interest in the book; those who persevere will do so more for style than plot. Yes, there is a plot, and we do learn who killed the man and who else got killed and who killed them, though the motives are murky. But the set pieces are beautifully executed, with catchy descriptions: He was shaking his head like his hair was full of bees. Reynolds is a wealthy poet hiding from his sad past in an Arkansas backwater. He's the kind of guy who thoughtfully leaves his mailbox open because a spider has spun a fly trap in there, and he doesn't want her work to be in vain. That sort of detail will appeal to those who read crime fiction for its characters and their idiosyncrasies. Others may wonder why we should care about the spider.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)