Sarah Jane Pullman is a good cop with a complicated past. From her smalltown chicken-farming roots through her runaway adolescence, court-ordered Army stint, ill-advised marriage and years slinging scrambled eggs over greasy spoon griddles, Sarah Jane unfolds her life story, a parable about memory, atonement, and finding shape in chaos. Her life takes an unexpected turn when she finds herself named the de facto sheriff of a rural town, investigating the mysterious disappearance of the sheriff whose shoes she's filling and the even more mysterious realities of the life he was hiding from his own colleagues and closest friends.
A spare, sparkling tour de force about one woman's journey to becoming a cop, by master of noir James Sallis, author of Drive.
Praise for the author: "Sallis creates vivid images in very few words and his taut, pared-down prose is distinctive and powerful. The result is a small masterpiece." SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
A brilliant new protagonist and his memorable community are introduced in the latest masterpiece by acclaimed novelist James Sallis.
In his celebrated career, James Sallis has created some of the most finely drawn protagonists in crime fiction, all of them thoughtful observers of the human condition: Lew Griffin, the black New Orleans private investigator; retired detective John Turner; the unnamed wheelman in Drive. Dr. Lamar Hale will now join the ranks of Sallis' finest characters.
In the woods outside the town of Willnot, the remains of several people have suddenly been discovered, unnerving the community and unsettling Hale, the town's all-purpose general practitioner, surgeon, and conscience. At the same time, Bobby Lowndes-a man being followed by the FBI-mysteriously reappears in his hometown at Hale's door. Over the ensuing months, the daily dramas Hale faces as he tends to his town and to his partner, Richard, collide with the inexplicable vagaries of life in Willnot. And when a gunshot aimed at Lowndes critically wounds Richard, Hale's world is truly upended.
In his inimitable spare style, James Sallis conjures indelible characters and scenes that resonate long after they appear. "You live with someone year after year, you think you've heard all the stories," Lamar observes, "but you never have." "James Sallis is one of our greatest living crime writers and Willnot continues an almost unseemly streak of excellence. Try to get his words, his stories, his people out of your head. Just try."-Laura Lippman, New York Times bestselling author
John le Carré meets the Coen brothers in this inspired road novel about secret agents on a mission to find meaning in their lives
David was one of an elite corps of spies trained during the Cold War. But those days are gone and for nine years he has been an ordinary citizen... until a phone call in the middle of the night. The only other known survivor of that elite corps has gone rogue. They need David to stop him. What ensues is an existential cat-and-mouse game played out across the American landscape.
Two years have passed since Turner's lover, Val Bjorn, was shot as they sat together on the porch of his cabin. Then the sheriff's long-lost son comes ploughing down Main Street in what appears to be a stolen car. And waiting at Turner's cabin is his good friend, Eldon Brown. Haunted by his own ghosts, Turner nonetheless goes in search of a truth he's not sure he can live with.
Now Deputy Sheriff in his new town, Turner seems to be finally escaping his past and creating a new life for himself. That is, until a routine traffic stop results in a young man being sprung from jail, a brutal assault on the Sheriff and Turner risking everything in his wild pursuit. A novel as atmospheric and eventful as anything Sallis has written.
'The brooding atmosphere and depth of characterisation mark this as superior mystery fare' MAIL ON SUNDAY
David, as he’s currently known, was a member of an elite corps of spies trained during the coldest days of the Cold War. But those days are long gone, and for almost a decade he has been out of the rat race and working as a sculptor. Then a phone call in the middle of the night awakens him: the only other survivor from that elite corps has gone rogue—and they need David to stop him. What ensues is an existential cat-and-mouse game played out across the great board that is the American landscape and through the diners and motels that dot the terrain like green plastic houses on a Monopoly board.
In this haunting and visceral yarn, James Sallis investigates the cynical, violent, sophisticated world of modern espionage with authority and originality.
“Intriguing…Any Sallis novel belongs in all but the smallest mystery collections.”—Booklist
The small town where Turner has moved is the perfect hide-away for him to forget he was a cop, a psychotherapist and always an ex-con - until a body is found and Turner is thrust into the investigation and everything he thought he had left behind. Turner slowly becomes reacquainted not only with the darkness he had fled, but with the unsuspected kindness of others.
A hired killer on his final job, a burned out detective whose wife is dying slowly, a young boy abandoned by his parents and living alone by his wits. The detective is looking for the killer, Christian, though he doesn't know that. And the boy, Jimmie, is having the killer's dreams. While they never meet, they are inextricably linked; as their stories unfold, all find the solace of community.
The sequel to James Sallis' critically acclaimed novella and award-winning film, Drive
Seven years have passed since Driver ended his campaign against those who double-crossed him. He has left the old life, become Paul West and founded a successful business back in Phoenix. But walking down the street one day, he and his fiancée are attacked by two men and, while Driver dispatches both, his fiancée is killed. Sinking back into anonymity, aided by his friend Felix a Desert Storm vet, Driver realises that his past stalks him - and will not stop. He has to turn and face it.
At the end of the initial novel, Drive, Driver has killed Bernie Rose, "the only one he mourned," ending his campaign against those who double-crossed him. Driven tells how the young man, done with killing, later will become the one who goes down early one morning in a Tijuana bar.
Seven years have passed. Driver has left the old life, become Paul West, and founded a successful business back in Phoenix. Walking down the street one day, he and his fiancée are attacked by two men, and while Driver dispatches both, his fiancée is killed.
Sinking back into anonymity, aided by his friend, Felix, an ex-gang member and Desert Storm vet, Driver retreats but finds that his past stalks him and will not stop. He has to turn and face it. Because he drives. That's what he does.
"Riveting...Drive is one lean, mean, masterful machine."-Entertainment Weekly on Drive
Drive is about a man who does stunt driving for movies by day and drives for criminals at night. Sallis combines murder, treachery and payback in a sinister plot with resonances of 1940s pulp fiction and film noir. Told through a cinematic narrative that weaves back and forth through time and place, the story explores Driver's near-existential moral foundations, intercut with moments of bloody violence.
Shortlisted for the Anthony, Nebula, Edgar, Shamus, and Gold Dagger Awards, best-selling author James Sallis is a master of the gritty crime drama. The Killer Is Dying tracks the fortunes of three men of vastly different ages, backgrounds, and ambitions. Though they never meet, a hired killer on his last job, a burned out detective, and a young boy plagued by nightmares have their lives intersect in compelling ways in the scorching metropolis of Phoenix, Arizona.
