The Devil and the River

January 8, 2018
This tepid thriller from Ellory (A Dark and Broken Heart) presents an original way of mutilating a corpse but follows a familiar story line. In 1974, Sheriff John Gaines of Whytesburg, Miss., who has recently regained some balance after “the nine circles of hell that was the war in Vietnam,” is stunned when the body of a teenage girl is unearthed from the mud. The victim’s heart was removed, and a basket containing a snake swallowing its own tail was inserted in the chest cavity. The coroner identifies her as Nancy Denton, a local who vanished 20 years earlier, her features preserved by the mud in which she was buried. Gaines’s search for the murderer necessarily reopens old wounds and, predictably, yields indications that Nancy’s killer has claimed other lives. Ellory, who overlays the whodunit with heavy-handed references to the effect military service in Vietnam has had on his characters’ psyches, has been more creative and subtle in the past. Readers will hope for a return to form next time. Agent: George Lucas, Inkwell Management.

February 15, 2018
Internationally best-selling British author Ellory has created a southern-gothic thriller in the tradition of William Faulkner. Readers will find themselves immersed in a decaying and disturbing atmosphere reminiscent of Faulkner's story A Rose for Emily. In 1954, 16-year-old Nancy Denton disappeared from her hometown of Whytesburg, Mississippi. Twenty years later, Sheriff John Gaines oversees the unearthing of her body from the deep mud of a riverbank, perfectly preserved but bearing evidence of a brutal ritualistic killing. Gaines, a Vietnam War veteran, has been struggling with discordant memories and horrific flashbacks. He must work both against and along with his demons to unravel a web of long-kept secrets involving disintegrating family dynasties and political and societal corruption. The prime suspect, a survivor of WWII Guadalcanal, was in love with the dead girl and has become totally deranged by his disastrous past. The mystery element is strong but sometimes difficult to keep in focus between the interwoven war narratives. This is a powerful, albeit slow, read with an amazing conclusion. Recommend to fans of James Ellroy and Andrew Vachss.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)