This is the third book I've read by David Joy and, by far, my favorite. Where his previous works focused on ordinary Joes who struggled with, or had family members who struggled with, drug addiction, Joy made a big switch her and decided to target racism and The Lost Cause the "pseudohistorical negationist myth that claims the cause of the Confederate States during the American Civil War was just, heroic, and not centered on slavery".

As he has always done, Joy takes pains to add dimension to his characters and make them much more interesting that one would expect from, say, an aging long-term white southern small-town sheriff. John Coggins deeply mourns the death of his best friend and hunting buddy, the grandfather of Toya Gardner, the young Black artist from Atlanta who has returned home North Carolina mountains and begun stirring up trouble by using her art to dredge up unpleasant truths from the past, truths whose dormancy have allowed Jackson County to remain the largely peaceful backwater county that Sheriff Coggins has enjoyed for so many years.

Joy uses Toya to pose questions about the nature and meaning of art. While this may sound boring, it becomes less so when one asks which is a better example of art, a bronze statue of a confederate soldier, or that same statue painted to show it with bloodstained hands. (I, for one, support Bertolt Brecht's assertion that "Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it.") Needless to say, things in Jackson County start to heat up quickly.

I highly recommend this book.

My thanks to the late Mike Sullivan, aka Lawyer, and all the folks at the On the Southern Literary Trail group for giving me the opportunity to read and discuss this and many other fine books. ( )

This time out the author takes on the subject of race in a small town in NC.
Who the murderer is is not hard to figure out based on the clues and the title of the book. The story and the writing are so outstanding that the mystery becomes an afterthought. It really comes down to the masks people wear and how well we truly know people.
Excellent book, easily in the top five for the year.
If you like S. A. Cosby’s books you will most likely enjoy this! ( )

This was fantastic! I finished this book a couple of days ago and can’t seem to get it out of my mind. David Joy is an exceptional storyteller and I feel that this is a perfect example of his work. If you haven’t read David Joy yet, do yourself a favor and move his books to the top of your tbr! He writes beautifully about critical social issues and does it in a way that really makes you feel something.

The characters in this story came alive on the page and the small town setting felt very authentic. This book made me feel uncomfortable at times because of how poignantly the topic of racism is addressed. At the heart of this story is Toya, a young black woman staying with her grandmother while finishing college. Toya is vocal and speaks out against the racism that has always been a part of the area’s history. She is killed after a protest and the hunt is on to find her killer. In a town where law enforcement often looks the other way when the Klan is involved, it may prove difficult to find justice for Toya.

The mystery in this novel was incredibly well done but it is the frank discussions about race that will stick with me for a very long time. The town sheriff doesn’t believe that there are any racial issues in his small town. The sheriff has known Toya’s grandmother, Tess, for a very long time and considered himself to be good friends with her late husband. When he seeks Tess’s opinion on the racial issues in their North Carolina town, he doesn’t expect the response he gets.

I listened to the audiobook and thought that MacLeod Andrews did a phenomenal job with the story. I believe that the voices he used helped to bring the cast of characters to life. He added just the right amount of emotion to his reading. I found his voice to be very pleasant which only added to my overall enjoyment.

I highly recommend this book to others. I don’t feel like I can write a review that will do this book justice. It’s just that good. David Joy is an incredibly talented author that more people really should be reading. If you take any of my recommendations, make it this one and get your hands on one of David Joy’s books just as soon as you can.

I received a digital review copy of this book from G.P Putnam’s Sons and Penguin Random House Audio. ( )