{"product_id":"bull-mountain-isbn-9780425282281","title":"Bull Mountain","description":"\u003cb\u003eWinner of the ITW Thriller Award for Best First Novel\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom a remarkable voice in Southern fiction comes a multigenerational saga of crime, family, and vengeance.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eClayton Burroughs comes from a long line of outlaws. For generations, the Burroughs clan has made its home on Bull Mountain in North Georgia, running shine, pot, and meth over six state lines, virtually untouched by the rule of law. To distance himself from his family’s criminal empire, Clayton took the job of sheriff in a neighboring community to keep what peace he can. But when a federal agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms shows up at Clayton’s office with a plan to shut down the mountain, his hidden agenda will pit brother against brother, test loyalties, and could lead Clayton down a path to self-destruction.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn a sweeping narrative spanning decades and told from alternating points of view, the novel brilliantly evokes the atmosphere of the mountain and its inhabitants: forbidding, loyal, gritty, and ruthless. A story of family—the lengths men will go to protect it, honor it, or in some cases destroy it—\u003ci\u003eBull Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e is an incredibly assured debut that heralds a major new talent in fiction.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Panowich stamps words on the page as if they’ve been blasted from the barrel of a shotgun, and as with a shotgun blast, no one is safe from the scattered fragments of history that impale the people of Bull Mountain.”—Wiley Cash,\u003ci\u003e \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e-bestselling author of \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eThis Dark Road to Mercy\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003eBull Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “[Brian Panowich] pulls off [a] daunting undertaking with astounding success...The storytelling is mesmerizing, with virtually every chapter set in a different timeline and focused on a single character, but the sense of immediacy carries over into each era.  And while the violence is shocking in its coldhearted brutality, it’s as aesthetically choreographed as any ballet.”—Marilyn Stasio, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Panowich has crafted a satisfying and smartly constructed book whose time-shifting sequences build suspense even as they parcel out telling revelations. Once events are in full play, there’s no turning back.”—\u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[Panowich storms] onto the scene with an epic southern tale that establishes him as a new voice for southern writers....An unabashed literary page-turner, \u003ci\u003eBull Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e, takes readers along for a ride full of well timed twists and turns, and the shocking family secret that causes the inevitable climax....one of the best multi-generational family sagas in years.”—Huffington Post\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“You’d be hard pressed to believe \u003ci\u003eBull Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e is the work of a debut author.  What Panowich puts together is more than a history of family, but a chronology of the violence perpetrated for nearly a century in maintaining an empire built on bootleg hooch and drugs – not in the name of power, women, or money, but of home....Panowich’s Southern grit is stubborn and gets into every crevice...he tears apart the hardened, Southern man so popular in rural noir. Even more, he does so while maintaining that those characters have a moral, human center. “—\u003ci\u003eThe Los Angeles Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A brilliant debut novel...extraordinary.”—\u003ci\u003eAtlanta Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Dazzling...Panowich tells his story in lengthy, nicely worked chapters reminiscent of John Steinbeck, who did his own brother-versus-brother story in \u003ci\u003eEast of\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eEden. \u003c\/i\u003eBoth write in a flowing, textured, understated style that is such a pleasure to read we don’t realize we’re being set up for a series of uppercuts. They come in revelations accompanied by gunfire. Read and recommend to anyone who follows country noir or savors delicious prose.”—\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e (starred review)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Panowich plants his \u003ci\u003eBull Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e squarely on those same shelves among the classic works of Daniel Woodrell, Larry Brown and James Lee Burke. It's that good....A worthy addition to the growing canon of dope and deadbeat Southern \"country noir.’”—\u003ci\u003eShelf Awareness\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Prose as punchy as rapid-aged whiskey.”—\u003ci\u003eEsquire\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Part Dashiell Hammett, part Hamlet...The story of a familial criminal empire embedded in the mountains of North Georgia, [\u003ci\u003eBull Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e] is a book that never lets a complicated plot and structure get in the way of what, I believe, is Panowich’s greatest gift—the ability to build layered, authentic characters and the world in which they live....Graceful prose, compelling characters, and a true sense of place [make this] gripping reading.”—\u003ci\u003eAugusta Chronicle\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The author delivers characters with depth, a lushly described setting, and an intergenerational battle between good and evil. After many twists and turns, the story ends with a welcome surprise....His book will appeal to readers of Wiley Cash, Ron Rash, and ­Daniel ­Woodrell for the way in which it brings the landscape and culture of rural Appalachia to life.”—\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Hillbilly noir goes literary in [\u003ci\u003eBull Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e]...Panowich deftly delves into \"something deeper than bone\" between fathers and sons, between the land and its people.”—\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Brian Panowich had me at the first word of his spectacular debut novel, 'Family,' and he held me until the very last page.  \u003ci\u003eBull Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e is a sprawling, gritty, violent, tribal inter-generational crime epic with a deeply rooted sense of place and an gut-punch ending I didn’t see coming.  Expect to see \u003ci\u003eBull Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e on the short-list of many ‘Best First Novel’ awards.”—\u003ci\u003eNew York Times­ \u003c\/i\u003ebestselling author C. J. Box\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Holy cow, what a book!  It moves like a bullet. Mr. Panowich knows his mountains, his whiskey, his dope and his meth. And boy, does he know his characters, who are drawn so vividly I can't forget them. I can't recommend this novel enough—it will thrill fans of Daniel Woodrell and Larry Brown as well as fans of Dennis Lehane and William Gay. First rate, first rate!”—\u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestselling author Tom Franklin\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “The gripping, witty \u003ci\u003eBull Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e is not only a fine debut, but a fine mystery novel, period.  Panowich may even have carved out his own subgenre of hillbilly noir.  I can't wait to see what he comes up with next.”—\u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestselling author John Connolly\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “\u003ci\u003eBull Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e is a stone gas and a stone winner! It’s brother-versus-brother in the dope-damned South.  This first novel has it all:  moonshine, maryjane and mayhem! Read this book now—and succumb to a startling new talent.”—James Ellroy, author of \u003ci\u003ePerfidia\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “\u003ci\u003eBull Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e is a stunningly polished debut novel. Panowich’s tale of family, of land, of crimes large and small, of right and wrong, is so vivid that the reader can almost see the blood in the soil and smell the violence on the wind.”—\u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestselling author Reed Farrel Coleman\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “The resurgence of American heartland noir gets a strong new prose soldier with Brian Panowich's debut novel \u003ci\u003eBull Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e, a tense, multi-generational tale of life on the hard side, a cops vs. bad guys story with subtly interwoven family sagas, romance and redemption. Panowich is a rising author to watch.”—James Grady, author of \u003ci\u003eSix Days of the Condor\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “With echoes of Faulkner's \u003ci\u003eSanctuary \u003c\/i\u003eand McCarthy's \u003ci\u003eNo Country for Old Men\u003c\/i\u003e, Brian Panowich's debut novel is Cain and Abel for a sticky South.  Strong as bootleg whiskey, smooth as the action of a well-oiled pistol, \u003ci\u003eBull Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e is a beautiful, harrowing debut—and so much fun, it ought to be against the law.”—Aaron Gwyn, author of \u003ci\u003eWynne's War\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Dug into the landscape like a grave, \u003ci\u003eBull Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e is a novel that resonates with a stirring combination of grace and brutality, of beauty and loss. In the Burroughs family, Brian Panowich creates a clan with all the fire and depth of Faulkner’s Henry Sutpen storming through a Steve Earle song.”—Steve Weddle, author of \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eCountry Hardball\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eBrian Panowich\u003c\/b\u003e is an award winning author, a Georgia firefighter, and a father to four incredible children. His first novel, \u003ci\u003eBull Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e, was a \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e Book Prize finalist, ITW Thriller Award winner for Best First Novel, Southern Book Prize winner, and a finalist for both the Anthony and the Barry Awards. He lives in Georgia with his family.1.\u003cbr\u003e“Family,” the old man said to no one.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The word hung in a puff of frozen breath, before dissipating into the early morning fog. Riley Burroughs used that word the same way a master carpenter used a hammer. Sometimes he just gave it a gentle tap to nudge one of his kin toward his way of thinking, but sometimes he used it with all the subtlety of a nine-pound sledge. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The old man sat in a wooden rocker, slowly squeaking it back and forth on the worn and buckled pine slats of the cabin’s front porch. The cabin was one of several hunting shelters his family had built all over Bull Mountain throughout the years. Rye’s Grandfather, Johnson Burroughs, built this one. Rye imagined the elder statesman of the Burroughs clan sitting in that very spot fifty years earlier and wondered if his brow ever got this heavy. He was sure it did. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Rye pulled a pouch of dried tobacco from his coat and rolled a smoke in his lap. Ever since he was a boy, he’d come out here to watch Johnson’s Gap come to life. This early, the sky was a purple bruise. The churning chorus of frogs and crickets was beginning to transition into the scurry of vermin and birdsong—a woodland changing of the guard. On frigid mornings like this one, the fog banked low over the veins of Kudzu like a cotton blanket, so thick you couldn’t see your feet to walk through it. It always made Rye smile to know that the clouds everyone else looked up to see, he looked down on from the other side. He reckoned that must be how God felt.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The sun had already begun to rise behind him, but this gap was always the last place to see it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The shadow cast down from the Western Ridge kept this section of the mountain almost a full ten degrees cooler than the rest of it. It would be well into the afternoon before the sun could dry up all the dew that made the forest shimmer. Only thin beams of light broke through the heavy canopy of oak trees and Scotch pine. As a kid, Rye used to believe those rays of light warming his skin were the fingers of God, reaching down though the trees to bless this place—to look out for his home. But as a man, he’d grown to know better. The children running underfoot and the womenfolk might have some use for that superstitious nonsense, but Riley reckoned if there was some Sunday school God looking out for the people on this mountain, then the job wouldn’t always fall on him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The old man sat and smoked.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 2.\u003cbr\u003e The sound of tires crunching gravel soured the morning. Rye tamped out his smoke, and watched his younger brother’s old Ford flatbed pull up the drive. Cooper Burroughs climbed out and snatched his rifle from the mount on the back window. Cooper was Riley’s half bother, born nearly sixteen years apart, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at them side by side. They both had the chiseled features of their shared father, Thomas Burroughs, but carried the weight of life on Bull Mountain heavy in the jowls, making both men appear much older then they were. Cooper pulled his hat down over his shaggy red hair and grabbed a backpack from the front seat. Rye watched as Cooper’s nine-year-old son, Gareth, appeared from the passenger side and walked around the truck to join his father. Rye shook his head and breathed out the last of the cold smoke in his lungs.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eIt’s just like Cooper to bring a buffer when there was a chance of tempers getting flared. He knows I wouldn’t put an ass whuppin’ on him in front of his boy. Too bad he can’t use them smarts when it matters.\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Rye stood up and opened his arms.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Good morning, brother…and nephew.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Cooper didn’t answer right away, or bother to hide his distain. He curled up his lip, and spit a slick string of brown tobacco juice at Rye’s feet. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Save it, Rye, we’ll get to it soon enough. I got to get some food in me before I can stomach listening to your bullshit.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Cooper wiped the sticky trail of spit from his beard. Rye dug his heels into the gravel, and balled his fists. The boy standing there be damned, he was ready to get this thing done. Gareth stepped between the two men in an attempt to ease the tension. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Hey, Uncle Rye.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Another few more seconds of stink-eye, then Rye broke his brother’s stare and squatted down to acknowledge his nephew. “Hey, there, young man,” Rye reached out to hug the boy, but Cooper shuffled his son past him and up the front steps of the cabin. Rye stood, dropped his arms, and tucked his hands into his coat. He took another solemn look out at the Sawtooth oaks and clusters of Maple, and thought again on his grandfather. Picturing him standing there doing the same thing Rye was doing now. Looking at the same trees. Feeling the same ache in his bones. It was going to be a long morning. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e 3.\u003cbr\u003e “You got to keep stirrin’ those eggs,” Cooper said, and took the wooden spoon from his son. He carved off a chunk of butter and dropped it into the bubbling yellow mixture. “You keep stirrin’ it ‘til it ain’t wet no more. Like this. See?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Yessir,” Gareth took the spoon back and did as he was shown. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Cooper fried some fatback and bacon in a cast iron skillet, and then served it up to his son and brother as if that pissing contest outside hadn’t just happened. That’s the way brothers do things. Gareth was the first to speak.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Deddy said you killed a Grizzly out by this ridge back in the day.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “He said that, did he?” Rye looked at his brother who sat shoveling eggs and fried meat into his mouth.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Well, your Deddy ain’t right. It wasn’t no Grizzly. It was a brown bear.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Deddy said you killed it with one shot. He said nobody else could’a done that.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Well, I don’t reckon that’s true. You could’a took it down just the same.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “How come you don’t got the head hanging up in here? That would sure be something to see.”\u003cbr\u003e Rye waited for Cooper to answer that, but he didn’t look up from his food.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Gareth, listen to me real good. That bear? I didn’t want to kill it. I didn’t do it to have \u003ci\u003esomething to see\u003c\/i\u003e, or a story to tell. I killed it so we could make it through the winter. If you kill something on this mountain, you better have a damn good reason. We hunt for necessity up here. Fools hunt for sport. That bear kept us warm and fed us for months. I owed it that much. You understand what I mean by ‘I owed it’?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “I think so.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “I mean that I would have dishonored the life it led if I killed it just to have a trophy on that wall. That ain’t our way. We used every bit of it.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Even the head?” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Even the head.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Cooper piped up. “You hearing what your Uncle is telling you, boy?” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Gareth nodded at his Pa. “Yessir.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Good, ‘cause that’s a lesson worth learnin’. Now enough talking.  Eat your breakfast so we can get on with it.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e They finished the rest of the meal in silence. As they ate, Rye studied Gareth’s face. It was perfectly round, with cheeks that stayed rosy no matter the weather, peppered with freckles. His eyes were set deep and narrow like his father’s. He’d have to open them real wide just for someone to tell the color. They were Cooper’s eyes. It was Cooper’s face, without the calico beard, or the grit…or the anger. Rye remembered when his brother looked like that. It felt like a hundred years ago. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e When their bellies were full, the two older men grabbed their rifles and stretched cold, morning muscles. Cooper leaned down and adjusted the wool cap on his son’s head to cover the boy’s ears.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “You stay warm, and you stay close,” he said, “You get sick on me, your Mama will have my ass in a sling.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The boy nodded, but his excitement was setting in and his eyes were fixed on the long guns. His father had let him practice with the .22, to get used to the recoil and feel of the scope, but he wanted to carry a man’s gun. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Do I get to carry a rifle, Deddy?” he said, scratching at the wool cap where his father had pulled at it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Well, I don’t reckon you can shoot anything without one,” Cooper said, and lifted a .223 rifle down from the stone mantle. The gun wasn’t new, but it was heavy and solid. Gareth took the weapon and inspected it like his father had taught him. He made a show of it to prove the lessons had stuck. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  “Let’s go,” he said, and the three of them took to the woods.","brand":"G.P. 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