Shadows on Iron Mountain is a thriller set in the rural mountains of Tennessee. The novel is set in modern times, but modern times seem not to have reached the clannish residents of its wilderness. The novel begins with Kara and Jason, a young couple who’ve chosen the beauty of Iron Mountain and its surrounding countryside as a setting for their delayed honeymoon. We’re just getting to know these lovebirds when someone snatches Kara from the rustic rental cabin and disappears without a trace. She is the second female tourist to go missing, but she isn’t the last in this touching, tense, and original who-done-it. Author Chuck Walsh leaves to a minimum the background details of outsiders like Detective Jordan of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. It is as if no one becomes real until they enter the shadow of Iron Mountain. Appalachian Tennessee is as much a deciding factor in the outcome of these multiple crimes as the unseen assailant. Its complex environment of dense woods, waterways, caves, and ominous skies thwart Jordan and local law enforcement at every twisted turn. Its people are hard, unsympathetic, and rigidly self-sufficient. They would just as soon shoot a lawman as answer any questions, even when the kidnapper proves to be a killer and the body count grows. The lifestyles and personalities of the mountain folk are empathically and finely drawn. I spent part of my childhood in rural Tennessee and can say that the characterization is authentic, right down to the meanness and the sweetness. Also authentic is the language: a “branch” is a small creek, a “holler” is a small valley, and grown men call old men “sir”. Parts of rural America are still mysterious, beautiful, and at times dangerous in a way that is unique from that of cities. As I read, I remembered the time I walked deep in the woods one night and stopped at the sight of a few shadowy figures with flash lights – I instinctively knew to disappear as silently and quickly as I could. Walsh’s novel captures this vibe well. To fans of the genre, I recommend Shadows on Iron Mountain as a refreshing turn from urban crime novels. ( )