Cripple Creek by James Sallis
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John Turner, Deputy Sheriff of Cripple
Creek, Tenn., has a past (Vietnam vet, Memphis cop, felon, therapist) and is
looking for a future. Living in the woods alone but for a possum (Miss Emily)
and her family, girlfriend Val, and hermit neighbor Nathan, he ruminates on the
front porch with a glass of bourbon after routine days as a small town cop. Life
takes a turn when a jailed DUI with a trunk full of cash is busted free by some
Memphis goombahs who leave the Sheriff and his teenage clerk badly shot up. This
being Old Testament country, violence begets retributive violence begets even
more retributive violence, and Turner has his hands full. But Sallis does not. He is a master of noir, a wordsmith nonpareil, a connoisseur of classic guitars and classic blues, a poet, and just world-weary enough to know the score without giving up. There isn't a page of this new novel that doesn't sing, startle, and stretch the reader to go back and read it again just to be sure he got it all. With a couple of dozen books to his credit spread among poetry, biography, fiction, and history, Sallis is one of our finest writers yet sadly out of the mainstream – perhaps as he likes it.If I could get just a dozen readers to discover James Sallis, I would feel my bookselling life has been fulfilled. How about it? Read Sallis. Make a new friend. Review by Bruce Jacobs, June 15, 2006
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