Wednesday 18 December 2013

2 BY CASTLE FREEMAN

I can’t for the life of me recall how I discovered this as yet unread author. Most likely hopping around on the net , a bit like six degrees of separation, I look up one book or author that has grabbed my attention, which then diverts me someplace else and a few tangential clicks later, before you know it, you have one eye on the postman the following day hoping he’s got a book parcel for you.



Castle Freeman Jr. has written a couple of earlier books, but for once I will hold my fire until I see how I go with these. I do also have a collection of short stories from him called Round Mountain.     


Freeman was born in Texas and raised and schooled in Illinois, but his latter fiction at least is set in Vermont, so I will probably claim one of these books for my Vermont State fiction book, when I eventually kick-off my 2014 USA State Reading quest.

Freeman says on his website........."Practically all the writing I have done—fiction, essays, history, journalism, and more—has been in one way or another about rural northern New England, in particular the State of Vermont, and the lives of its inhabitants, a source of unique and undiminishing interest, at least to me."

GO WITH ME

A young woman recently relocated to a tiny Vermont logging town, Lillian is menaced by a mysterious stalker named Blackway. This one man - who kills her cat, forces her boyfriend to flee the state in terror, and silently threatens her very existence - is a force little understood by the local figures to whom she turns for help. Yet, in this spare and powerful tale, Lillian enlists the powerful brute Nate and the curmudgeonly Lester to take the fight to her tormenter as a raggedy quartet of town elders ponders her likely fate. With simple strength and extraordinary force, Go with Me is a riveting modern fable of good provoked to resist evil.

Go With Me is “a small masterpiece of black comedy and suspense about a trio of backwoods heroes who embark upon a modern-day quest. . . . If all novels were this good, Americans would read more.” KIRKUS REVIEW


ALL THAT I HAVE
In this gripping, wise, and darkly funny tale of suspense, Sheriff Lucian Wing confronts a series of trials that test his work, his marriage, and the settled order of his life.

Wing is an experienced, practical man who enforces the law in his corner of Vermont with a steady hand and a generous tolerance. Things are not as they should be, however, in the sheriff's small, protected domain. The outside world draws near, and threats multiply: the arrival in the district of a band of exotic, major league criminals; an ambitious and aggressive deputy; the self-destructive exploits of a local bad boy; Wing's discovery of a domestic crisis. The sheriff's response to these diverse challenges calls on all the personal resources he has cultivated during his working life: patience, tact, and (especially) humor.



 2 more next week if I haven’t decided to have a week off and gorge myself silly over the festive period!

12 comments:

  1. Col, threats and intimidation seem to be the focal points in these novels. Given a choice I think I'd like to read "Go With Me" first. It sounds more interesting.

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    1. Prashant, I agree with your assessment on the focus of the books, I probably couldn't split the pair over which excites me the most though. Typically I try and read chronologically even if subsequent books aren't linked. Go With Me precedes All That I Have by a year.

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  2. Go With Me does sound more interesting. I agree with Prashant. You continue to show that discoverability is a big issue for some authors. I've never heard of him and that Kirkus Review was a good one.

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    1. Ok - I'm out-voted 2 to 1 so far - Go With Me is a much better book, which I will read first!!!

      Keishon, I think I'm a ferret, I do like to seek out guys and gals (to a lesser extent) that aren't necessarily high profile and that don't figure on the best-seller lists. I like a percentage of my reading to be non-mainstream.

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    2. Well what do you know, me too for non-mainstream reading.

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    3. I'll get some read and clear the pile down a bit. Then I'll be looking to you for some direction next year.

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  3. Col - I do the same thing too. You never know what hidden little gems you'll find just by following your fancy as you go net-hopping. I'll be interested in what you think of these. And I'm going to add to the votes against you, I'm afraid...

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  4. Castle Freeman is not a proper name. It sounds like Exit 31 on the M1, historic market town and services. Apart from that, the books sound good. The first one sounds like Twin Peaks, and the second one a bit Terry Shames. So anyway I will, yet again, wait till you read them for me first. And please feel free to read them in whatever order you choose, Col.

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    1. Moira, I thought for a minute you were sticking up for me, but no you call me out again on my imaginary authors (as opposed to invented books). Just to advise though I will be reading a couple of books next year by Hilton Park and Leicester Forest East

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  5. Go With Me is way beyond my comfort level. Especially killing a cat. (I know that is silly but... there it is.) The other one sounds better for me. I will wait and check out your reviews.

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    1. I think I can cope with the killing of a cat - I'm more of a dog person, with no particular affinity for felines! ( Though I'm not advocating DEATH TO ALL CATS, Tracy!)

      I'm looking forward to both.

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