Review by _Bull Mountain_. The great debut of Brian Panowich

Mariola Díaz-Cano Arévalo

4 minutes

It has also been my debut in what is called now country noir, or the black novel of rural environment. It has been a delight and this Bull mountain (2015) of Brian panowich has fallen (making a great effort not to continue) in five days. Sure, there was that small but significant claim from a certain James Ellroy, whose literary agent is the same as Panowich's. But also the story sounded pretty good and I wanted to get into this subgenre. It hasn't let me down at all. Let's go with her.

Who is Brian Panowich?

For a firefighter from Georgia, born in 1972, where he lives with his wife and four children. Bull mountain made him win the International Thriller Writers Award 2016 for the best first novel and the Pat Conroy Award for the best crime novel.

Bull mountain

Synopsis

The Burroughs have always lived in Bull Mountain, North Georgia, dealing in homemade whiskey, marijuana, methamphetamine and guns.. One day Clayton burroughs, distanced from them and turned into sheriff, receives a visit from simon holly, a very efficient and, in appearance, reliable federal agent. This presents you with a master plan for end all illegal activities in six states. But that happens because Clayton has to mediate with the only and very dangerous brother he has left..
That's the official synopsis, but the real one is a display of 26 chapters that tell a story from 1949 to 2015. The story of the Burroughs, whose family tree is littered with vermin to each worse and where a black sheep is already in the present: the youngest member is an honest and decent representative of the law, but who does not stop having the violent blood of his own.
However, Clayton Burroughs is not the main protagonist. In time jumps we see how that criminal empire was created and what the lives of all the members of the family were like. From Cain and Abel who were his grandfather and great-uncle, Cooper and Rye Burroughs, the vermin that it became his father, Gareth, and the three children he has and who pay the consequences of so much bad blood.
One, Buckley, you have already paid for them. The oldest, Halford, is the worst. And Clayton, the youngest, who despite his good work as a sheriff and his determination to live calmly in his marriage, will have it more than difficult with that visit from Agent Holly. And that everything could be fixed for the better, but the earth, blood and revenge are too strong.

Why read it

You just have to start with this phrase from Julius Caesar to make it clear where the shots are going (and never better said):

With the sword drawn, do not let any notion of love, pity, not even the face of your parents, move you..

And so it is throughout history. Nothing moves those despicable scoundrels that are the Burroughs, a custom portrait of the worst "white trash" in America's deepest and most violent roots. Y Panowich does not skimp on harsh and harsh language to narrate or describe situations and places. Nor in presenting the characters seamlessly and forcefully, like the violence with which they permeate everything.

It also stands out the trio of female characters, whose vicissitudes and decisions they make and suffer both with pain and with a fighting spirit, even though they know that this violence is above and will eventually hunt them down in one way or another.

To finish, and who has read LA Confidential de ellroy maybe find some parallelism in the end. I at least found it. And I felt the same ... Ahem, I have to shut up.

Ah, something that I have not been able to avoid and that is a wink to the followers of Stranger things. The face of that Clayton Burroughs could perfectly be that of the great David Harbor, he also sheriff Chief Hooper from the hit TV series.

In short, a great crime novel to start a hot May already.


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  1.   Josepa said
    ago 6 years

    Congratulations to the novice writer, you took her out of the stadium.
    emotion from the first page to the last without interruption, great dialogues, interesting plot, excellent setting, characters,….
    as the firefighter continues so we can have a new Grisham, in his own clear style, more like Elmore Leonard - Raylan
    I would like to find more novels of this country noir style or similar
    welcome recommendations

    Reply to josepa