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A review by mawalker1962
Bull Mountain by Brian Panowich
4.0
There are only a few male writers of dark action/suspense that I read: James Lee Burke, the late Robert Parker, and Ron Rash. Now add Brian Panowich to the list. Panowich, a musician turned Georgia firefighter, found rapid success with his first novel, published by Putnam last year and just out in paperback. Bull Mountain was a finalist for an LA Book Prize, was named one of Amazon's top 20 book s of the year, and was reviewed in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and the LA Review of Books.
For all these accolades, the book would never have been on my radar screen if I hadn't heard him read at Hub City Book Shop last month. Panowich read the first chapter, and it sucked me in, but more than that, he was delightful: just a down to earth guy covered in tats who had not let overnight success mess with his head. (And yes, he's still fighting fires in Georgia.)
This multigenerational saga about a family of moonshiners turned pot growers turned meth manufacturers is damned dark and violent. It's also rooted in reality. I grew up in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee, and there were notorious backwoods crime families like the Burroughs family operating in hollers and knobs around my community. I remember reading about one particularly spectacular federal takedown of such a crime family in the early 90s, long after I moved away. So there was nothing overblown or unbelievable about the brutality of the Burroughs family for me.
This novel will suck you in, and the ending is a big surprise. Most surprising will be the strength of the main female character. I'm looking forward to Panowich's next book.
For all these accolades, the book would never have been on my radar screen if I hadn't heard him read at Hub City Book Shop last month. Panowich read the first chapter, and it sucked me in, but more than that, he was delightful: just a down to earth guy covered in tats who had not let overnight success mess with his head. (And yes, he's still fighting fires in Georgia.)
This multigenerational saga about a family of moonshiners turned pot growers turned meth manufacturers is damned dark and violent. It's also rooted in reality. I grew up in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee, and there were notorious backwoods crime families like the Burroughs family operating in hollers and knobs around my community. I remember reading about one particularly spectacular federal takedown of such a crime family in the early 90s, long after I moved away. So there was nothing overblown or unbelievable about the brutality of the Burroughs family for me.
This novel will suck you in, and the ending is a big surprise. Most surprising will be the strength of the main female character. I'm looking forward to Panowich's next book.