Mick Hardin, a combat veteran now working as an Army CID agent, is home on a leave that is almost done. His wife is about to give birth, but they aren't getting along. His sister, newly risen to sheriff, has just landed her first murder case, and local politicians are pushing for city police or the FBI to take the case. Are they convinced she can't handle it, or is there something else at work? She calls on Mick who, with his homicide investigation experience and familiarity with the terrain, is well-suited to staying under the radar. As he delves into the investigation, he dodges his commanding officer's increasingly urgent calls while attempting to head off further murders. And he needs to talk to his wife.
The Killing Hills is a novel of betrayal - sexual, personal, within and between the clans that populate the hollers – and the way it so often shades into violence. Chris Offutt has delivered a dark, witty, and absolutely compelling novel of murder and honour, with an investigator-hero unlike any in fiction.
About the Author
Chris Offutt is the author of the short-story collections Kentucky Straight and Out of the Woods, the novels The Good Brother, Country Dark and The Killing Hills , and three memoirs: The Same River Twice, No Heroes, and My Father, the Pornographer His work has appeared in Best American Short Stories and Best American Essays, among many other places. He has written screenplays for Weeds, True Blood, and Treme, and has received fellowships from the Lannan and Guggenheim foundations.
Industry Reviews
With wonderful descriptives of the wildlife and the people, this is fantastically stripped back, pared down storytelling with such superbly written depth and sense of place, I'm going to call it; this is Kentucky Noir, it gleams dark, is as hard as anthracite and Offutt is its undisputed Pappy * LoveReading *
Pitch-perfect in its tone and dialogue, this is what Jack Reacher wants to be when it grows up -- James Owen * Times (Best New Thrillers for November) *
It's genuinely thrilling to read and written with a propulsive momentum, a poet's eye for the small detail and an expert plotter's feel for twists and turns that come naturally, rather than bolted on out of the blue. Fantastic stuff * Big Issue *
Offutt writes gently and movingly about the people and the land, the history and the present, and the interior landscapes of his carefully and convincingly wrought characters * Quietus *
More than just a murder case, it's a voyage into rural backwoods Kentucky that doesn't shirk from the darkness to be found there, and unfolds with drive, noir style and wry humour * Herald *
