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Reckoning Up Black Cat Hollow
Synopsis
Praise
“A blistering tale of the human condition filtered through a rural lens and sealed with the kind of gut punch that only Jones can deliver. A novel both thought provoking and smart, yet brutally tense and paced faster than a bullet. For everyone that didn’t already know, Matthew F. Jones is the true heir apparent to the kingdom of Cormac McCarthy. Yeah, he’s that fucking good.”
“A Reckoning Up Black Cat Hollow is as fast-paced and unrelenting as any thriller you will find, but what makes Jones’s book so compelling is its psychological, at times metaphysical, journey into one man’s tormented soul. Reading the novel is like entering a clear mountain stream. You take a few steps and suddenly plunge into depths you’d not imagined. Matt Jones is an immensely talented writer, and this harrowing novel deserves a wide and appreciative audience.”
“A psychological thriller cut on the steepest grade with more switchbacks than a mountain haul road. A Reckoning Up Black Cat Hollow roars downhill with the brakes on fire. Jones sets a masterful pace.”
“Haunted hills and dead ends and deep nights fill the pages of A Reckoning Up Black Cat Hollow, the latest from Matthew F. Jones, who is not afraid to go dark and dare you to look. Black Cat Hollow Road winds through a treacherous landscape, for a cast of characters who are caught somewhere between the real and the imagined, the truth and lies, and ultimately between what is right and wrong. A gripping, hardnosed tale told with balance, beauty, bleakness.”
“Beginning with a chance encounter on a dark country road, and taking place over the course of a single brutal night, A Reckoning Up Black Cat Hollow is one of the most gripping, fast-paced crime novels you’re ever going to read. Jack Spinks is a fantastically complex character and A Reckoning Up Black Cat Hollow is a stunning read. I could easily see a sequel. Matthew Jones has proven once again that he’s one of the best and most original storytellers around.”
“Matthew F. Jones is a hard, wonderful and very powerful writer you might not know yet, but ought to soon. He will not spare your sensibilities should you be among those poor souls afflicted with such. He rakes you over the coals at a measured pace, unfurls rath from six angles and the amen he delivers will keep even twisted m…f’s… awake at night. Jones is major, he’s got the piss and vinegar and moral rigor that make books matter.”
“A Reckoning Up Black Cat Hollow is a brilliant and searing novel that reminds us that Matthew Jones isn’t just one of our best writers of rural noir. He is one of our best writers. Period.”
“A Reckoning Up Black Cat Hollow is deeper, richer, better-written, and far more nuanced than the standard TV-inspired dross that passes for rural noir. Matthew F. Jones’ novel unfolds with the hallucinatory quality of meth and mescaline, immersing us in a world as searing as a fist in the face, as complex and beautiful and fast as life itself. Read it and hold tight. It’s like nothing you know.”
“An epigraph from a Tom Waits song and an allusion to Paris, Texas on page one clued me in immediately that Matthew F. Jones’s A Reckoning Up Black Cat Hollow would be very far up my alley. The prose crackles, the pace is unrelenting, and Jones’s characters make an indelible impression. This is extraordinary work—thrilling, ambitious, and sharp-eyed. I can’t recommend it enough.”
Matthew F. Jones is the author of seven critically acclaimed novels as well as a number of screenplays. His novels have been widely translated and several times have been named on best novels of the year lists. Three of his novels, A Single Shot, Deepwater and Boot Tracks, have been made into major motion pictures. He has taught creative writing at a number of colleges and universities, including Randolph Macon College, Lynchburg College and the University of Virginia. He grew up on a horse and dairy farm in rural upstate New York and currently lives in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Other Books
Boot Tracks
Boot Tracks is a commanding tale of a man and a woman struggling against a destiny they cannot control, told in Matthew F. Jones’ characteristically taut, economic style. An assassination gone terribly wrong; a couple searching for one last chance to find a safe place in a hostile world.
A Single Shot
After the loss of his family farm, John Moon is a desperate man. A master hunter, his ability to poach game in-season or out is the only thing that stands between him and the soup kitchen line. Until Moon trespasses on the wrong land, hears a rustle in the brush, and fires a single fateful shot.
The Elements of Hitting
Walter Innis, son of a frustrated and violent fallen baseball star and a tragically unhappy woman driven to infidelity, carries his family’s legacy of torment into his own adult life – with disastrous results. Ultimately, it is as a Little League coach that Walter discovers a route to happiness and hope beyond the reach of the past.