The More They Disappear

August 29, 2016
Near the start of Donaldson's well-written, grim first novel set in 1998, troubled teenager Mary Jane Finley kills Sheriff Lew Mattock with a rifle shot at a fund-raising barbecue in Marathon, Ky. That action roils the lives of many Marathoners, including deputy Harlan Dupee, who suddenly finds himself sheriff, and the members of Mattock's family: his widow, Mabel; his son, Lewis; and Lewis's wife, Sophie. Mary Jane's boyfriend, Mark Gaines, who's Sophie's brother, and their father, Dr. Trip Gaines, are also affected. While Dupee, a reluctant and unprepared sheriff, begins to uncover Mattock's secrets (bribes, affairs, gambling debts), drug user Mary Jane and drug dealer Mark make ineffectual attempts to flee the area. Others, including the manipulative Trip, convince reluctant Lewis to run for sheriff. Donaldson relentlessly tracks the devastating fallout from Mattock's death as it sweeps through Marathon. Agent: David Hale Smith, Inkwell Management Literary.

Starred review from August 1, 2016
This hauntingly beautiful novel is spun out of some familiar thriller ingredients: the overwhelmed cop who keeps going until the mystery is solved, the sarcastic female helper, a villain who quotes poetry, and a criminal conspiracy that involves, as they say, the town's leading citizens. When the tobacco-spitting sheriff of a little Kentucky county is gunned down, underachieving deputy Harlan Dupee must investigate. He finds that small-town desperation and family misery have created an eager audience for a drug company's release of OxyContin. Snort it. Steal it. Sell it. Bribe officials. Cover up the cover-up. Donaldson adds a dimension with marvelously lyrical prose (think Daniel Woodrell) that gives life to the neediness at the root of this rank behavior. People hurt one another because they have so much hurt to give. An estranged husband cries for the mornings they'd stayed in bed just to hold one another. It's not all grim. One memorable moment occurs when an opera-loving suspect halts his narrative until the soprano finishes her aria. Forget genre labels. This is a stunning novel, period.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)