the second John Turner novel is similar to the first, less a mystery and more a story of Turner's life, some philosophy and action. In this one, his daughter, a Seattle police officer, finds him. Having read the first book only a week or two ago, I didn't remember anything about his having a daughter but I'm sure it was there.

Don Lee stops a car and driver going over 80 mph in town. Don jails him for the night and searching the car finds $200,000+ in cash. The guy gets his one phone call and during the night the police station was attacked, hurting seriously Don and office temp June and freeing the offending speeder. the remainder of the book follows John Turner's attempt to find the attackers, as well as handling other local disturbances.

All in all, a good book with a sad ending. ( )

Cripple Creek is the middle novel of a trilogy of lyrical crime novels by James Sallis; the first is Cypress Grove and the third is Salt River. His prose is beautiful and his characters wonderful. The world of these novels is one of unremitting violence. Good people get hurt or killed all the time, although those same people are able to find one another and some comfort in music and one another. Read all three but space them out a bit and read something optimistic after each Sallis novel. ( )

Well-written, but sometimes the action can be so understated that you miss something important. ( )

The 2nd instalment in so far, a three part series. I haven't read the first : Cypress Grove . Interesting story because it was so short. It keeps your attention as the story moves along a a fast pace, As it moves around the south ( Tennessee) you are never quite sure what is going to happen next. But it is always unexpected ( )

In CRIPPLE CREEK, James Sallis' protagonist John Turner has become somewhat entrenched in the small Southern community he came to know in the previous Turner novel, CYPRESS GROVE. Turner, an ex-cop, ex-con and lapsed therapist, who helped the local sheriff solve a crime in the first book, is now a deputy with all that position's attendant status and responsibilities. Turner's also acquired a family (if only a de facto one, at first) in this sequel, including his girlfriend, attorney Val Bjorn, his staunch buddy Sheriff Lonnie Bates, the redoubtable curmudgeon and local sawbones/mortician Doc Oldham and, eventually, a blood relative.

The story is ostensibly about solving a violent crime committed against a fellow deputy and office assistant, after someone springs an arrestee from lock-up – a guy caught rolling through town drunk with around two grand stashed in his car. Turns out the arrestee's connected to some heavies from Memphis, Turner's old stomping grounds. So Turner heads back to the big city to find out who's responsible and dispense justice his own way. Turner's foray stirs up a hornet's nest of bad guys, putting him at risk for a potentially deadly payback. Thus, the novel is deftly transformed from cop story to suspense/thriller.

Read more on Suite101 at: http://mysterycrimefiction.suite101.com/article.cfm/review_cripple_creek#ixzz0Rr... ( )