When These Mountains Burn, David Joy
When These Mountains Burn, David Joy
2 Rating(s)
List: $17.50 | Sale: $12.25
Club: $8.75

When These Mountains Burn

Author: David Joy

Narrator: MacLeod Andrews

Unabridged: 7 hr 22 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published: 08/18/2020


Synopsis

Winner of the 2020 Dashiell Hammett Award for Literary Excellence in Crime Writing 
 
Acclaimed author and "remarkably gifted storyteller" (The Charlotte Observer) David Joy returns with a fierce and tender tale of a father, an addict, a lawman, and the explosive events that come to unite them.

When his addict son gets in deep with his dealer, it takes everything Raymond Mathis has to bail him out of trouble one last time. Frustrated by the slow pace and limitations of the law, Raymond decides to take matters into his own hands.

After a workplace accident left him out of a job and in pain, Denny Rattler has spent years chasing his next high. He supports his habit through careful theft, following strict rules that keep him under the radar and out of jail. But when faced with opportunities too easy to resist, Denny makes two choices that change everything.

For months, the DEA has been chasing the drug supply in the mountains to no avail, when a lead--just one word--sets one agent on a path to crack the case wide open . . . but he'll need help from the most unexpected quarter.

As chance brings together these men from different sides of a relentless epidemic, each may come to find that his opportunity for redemption lies with the others.

About The Author

David Joy is the author of The Line That Held Us (winner of the 2018 SIBA Book Prize), The Weight of This World, and Where All Light Tends to Go (Edgar finalist for Best First Novel). His stories and creative nonfiction have appeared in a number of publications, and he is the author of the memoir Growing Gills: A Fly Fisherman's Journey and a co-editor for Gather at the River: Twenty-Five Authors on Fishing. Joy lives in Tuckasegee, North Carolina.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Debra on March 17, 2020

Gifted storyteller and poet at heart David Joy has crafted a heartbreaking and harrowing tale of addiction, family, love, revenge/vengeance and chasing the high. Ray "Raymond" Mathis receives a call saying that his son is in trouble. He owes a lot of money and his dealer needs Ray to pay up in order......more

Goodreads review by Shelley's Book Nook on November 27, 2022

My Reviews Can Also Be Found On:My Blog | Twitter | Amazon | BRC Blog | StoryGraph Oh wow, this book hits hard and tackles addiction in a real way. This is my first book by this author and I don't know what the heck took me so long, I am kicking myself for not picking this up sooner. Even tho......more

Goodreads review by Canadian Jen on June 17, 2021

This story burned as slow as the mountains in N.C. Yes, I’m swimming against the current yet again. A story of a father whose son is an addict and has a large debt to pay. A father who becomes a vigilante -Move over Charles Bronson. This one just didn't hit the grit that I loved in The Line That Held......more

Goodreads review by Susanne on January 10, 2021

Review published to blog: [URL not allowed] Drugs run rampant in the mountains of North Carolina. Such that addiction is the norm and times are troubled. When Ray Mathis’s son, Ricky gets himself into yet another pickle, Ray does the only thing he can, he rescues his son, just......more


Quotes

One of Publishers Weekly 2020 Summer Reads

“Slow-burning. . . With memorable characters, deft plotting, and an attention to detail, Joy has written a powerful work of crime fiction."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Visceral...Joy makes it tougher to judge these characters by allowing the least likely of them to be the hero...in this nervewracking thriller."—Shelf Awareness (starred review)

“Unforgettably powerful. . . What stands out here isn’t the story [but] rather Joy’s unflinching and gritty depiction of his fully realized characters, from their raw loss to their helplessness and rage to their final acceptance. Joy has thoroughly captured their experiences in vivid, memorable prose that burns to be read.”—BookPage

"Joy portrays his characters with unflinching realism. Creative turns of phrase and creative colloquialisms move the story forward and keep the otherwise disheartening subject matter full of thrilling surprises. As Southern noir-tinged fiction gains a well-deserved audience, Joy is one voice that never disappoints.”—Booklist

“[An] engrossing drama of violence and vengeance. . . Joy’s razor-sharp prose details disturbing, graphic images of brutality that begin when Raymond resolves to protect his son. . .  Joy handles everything with ease, proving himself to be one hell of a writer.”—Publishers Weekly

"Outstanding. . . When These Mountains Burn is a crime novel, surely – and a damn good one – but it’s also a snapshot of small-town America at a fracture point, when the least of the concerns is the fire that could consume everyone, all at once.”—USA Today

"Joy is a master of prose...If you are after a beautifully written dark addition story—[When These Mountains Burn] is your best bet."—Criminal Element

“Appalachian noir at its finest...Joy's storytelling is top-notch (and not for the faint of heart), and you'll find yourself turning pages deep into the night. But it's his knack for capturing a sense of place that really brings the hammer down.”—Garden & Gun

“The story is fast-moving, the characters are richly fleshed out, and despite its gritty settings and subject matter, wraps up with a sense of redemption and hope for the possibility of better days ahead. Simply put, Joy is at the top of his game.”—Sylva Herald

“Revelatory . . . Indelible characters from every side of the law converge in this fast-moving story. As fine a piece of writing as you are ever likely to encounter.”—Lee Smith, author of Guests on Earth

"This is the sort of novel I love. No world wide conspiracies, or super crimes. Just flawed folks making bad choices, then having to live with the deadly consequences. David Joy has quickly become one of my favorite authors in the tradition of such fine novelist as Larry Brown and William Gay. Highly recommended."—Joe R. Lansdale, author of The Elephant of Surprise