CANR
WORK TITLE: THE COLD WAY HOME
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.juliakeller.net/
CITY: Chicago
STATE:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: CANR 310
http://www.criminalelement.com/blogs/2012/08/fresh-meat-a-killing-in-the-hills-by-julia-keller-amy-dalton-thriller-legal http://bio.tribune.com/JuliaKeller
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born c. 1958, in Huntington, WV; daughter of James Keller (a mathematics professor) and a high school English teacher.
EDUCATION:Marshall University, B.A., M.A.; Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1995.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Journalist. Reporting intern for syndicated columnist Jack Anderson in Washington, DC; worked for Ashland Daily Independent, Ashland, KY; Columbus Dispatch, Columbus, OH, reporter, 1981-98; Harvard University, Nieman Fellow, 1998-99; Chicago Tribune, Chicago, IL, reporter, beginning 1998, then cultural critic, until 2012; Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, McGraw Professor of Writing, fall, 2006; fulltime writer, 2012–. The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), guest essayist; has also lectured at University of Notre Dame, University of Chicago, and Ohio State University.
AWARDS:Pulitzer Prize, 2005, for feature writing; Barry Award for Best First Novel, 2013, for A Killing in the Hills.
WRITINGS
Author of foreword for Davis Grubb’s The Night of the Hunter, Vintage Books (New York, NY), 2015; author of the novella The Tablet of Scaptur; author of e-novellas related to the “Bell Elkins” series, including The Devil’s Stepdaughter, 2014, A Haunting of the Bones, 2014, Ghost Roll, 2015, and Evening Street, 2015.
SIDELIGHTS
Longtime journalist Julia Keller, who interned with famous syndicated columnist Jack Anderson, won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for feature writing for her exhaustive account in the Chicago Tribune of a ten-second tornado that ripped through the town of Utica, Illinois, southwest of Chicago. According to a biographer on the Pulitzer Prize Web site, Keller was honored “for her gripping, meticulously reconstructed account.” Interestingly, Keller actually did not want to cover the story. “I fought it viciously, I thought it was a terrible idea,” Keller told Editor & Publisher contributor Jennifer Saba. “The metro staff did a great job covering the tornado as it happened.” Her editors insisted, believing that Keller was the right kind of reporter to get the inside story and further details of the events, including the long-term effects the catastrophe had on the townspeople’s psyche. As a result, Keller started visiting Utica on a weekly basis, interviewing those who witnessed the tornado and its aftermath. Keller’s three-part report took her seven months to put together as she had to win the trust of the townspeople, who had grown tired of all the media attention, and conduct numerous interviews. The resulting story focuses on the townspeople before, during, and after the twister hit and destroyed a local bar. Keller’s story made the front page of the Chicago Tribune in three installments. “It was a beautifully reported and beautifully written piece,” Keller’s editor Tim Bannon told Saba.
Keller grew up in Huntington, West Virginia. Her father was a mathematics professor at nearby Marshall University, where Keller eventually earned both her bachelor’s and her master’s degrees in English, and her mother taught high school English. Together, her parents instilled in Keller a dual interest in both science and the humanities. Over the course of her career as a journalist, Keller has written for a number of periodicals, including the Ashland Daily Independent in Ashland, Kentucky, and the Columbus Dispatch in Columbus, Ohio, prior to settling on the staff of the Chicago Tribune. In addition to her regular writing duties, she has been a guest essayist for the Public Broadcasting Service’s NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, and she served as the McGraw Professor of Writing at Princeton University during the autumn term in 2006. Keller’s debut book, Mr. Gatling’s Terrible Marvel: The Gun That Changed Everything and the Misunderstood Genius Who Invented It, was published by Viking in 2008.
Mr. Gatling’s Terrible Marvel gives readers a thorough overview of the life and career of Richard Jordan Gatling, known as the inventor of the machine gun. Gatling’s original purpose in coming up with such a device was to attempt to lessen the need for extensive armies by making it possible for a single soldier to serve in the stead of a larger number who would be required to reload their ammunition repeatedly. Despite the popularity and much-discussed history of his famous invention, little has been written about Gatling himself, and Keller’s biography serves as the first comprehensive book about the man and his life leading up to his invention. Over the course of the book, she describes how Gatling worked for his success, educating himself and persisting in his attempts to come up with a practical device that would serve his purpose. In addition, she puts Gatling and his efforts into both historical and cultural perspective, discussing the uniqueness of the U.S. patent system of the time and the ways in which other inventors of the era put the system to good use. She shows Gatling as very much representative of the time during which he lived and the aspirations of the day, as he moved from the South to a northern city, worked to invent something he considered both practical and important to the safety of his nation, and then sold his idea to a company—Colt—that would be better able to put his ideas into practice.
In a review for Publishers Weekly, a contributor commented that “Keller rescues Gatling and anchors his remarkable life firmly in the landscape of nineteenth-century America.” A contributor to Kirkus Reviews remarked of the book that “overheated prose only slightly mars this colorful portrait of an underappreciated American inventor and his times.” Booklist reviewer George Cohen declared that “in thorough detail, Gatling’s life and work come to life.”
Back Home, Keller’s first novel, is based on the research the author conducted to write a 2003 series for the Chicago Tribune on brain injuries. The novel is narrated from the point of view of thirteen-year-old Rachel, whose father, Ed Browning, returns from National Guard service in Iraq with two missing limbs and a brain injury. The narrative chronicles the first year after his return as the family tries to adjust to the dramatic changes that have taken place. Rachel describes the efforts of her mother to encourage her husband during his rehabilitation, as well as the reactions of her younger brother and sister, relatives, and family friends. As the year goes on, they come to understand that the brain injury affects the part of the brain that produces initiative; thus, while able to use his prosthetic limbs, Ed refuses to do so and simply sits in his wheelchair, observing life around him. In time, the family becomes socially isolated and suffers despair over Ed’s lack of real improvement. Their anger evolves into discouragement and finally weary resignation.
Reviewers were able to appreciate the emotional impact of Back Home, but in general they tended to conclude that the book does not entirely succeed as a novel. Kathleen Isaacs, in a review for the School Library Journal, allowed that Keller “tells this imagined family’s story movingly,” but she also remarked that “readers never really come to know the first-person narrator.” Other reviewers agreed. A Kirkus Reviews contributor remarked that the novel “never truly captures an authentic 13-year-old voice.” A reviewer for Publishers Weekly found the novel “tedious,” maintaining that it “feels more like an expository essay” and suffers from “too much telling, not enough showing.” For Michael Cart, writing in Booklist, the novel is marred by “perhaps too much information that is didactic instead of aesthetic.” Nevertheless, Cart concluded: “With integrity, authenticity, and immediacy, Keller has captured the extraordinary complexity and challenge of unexpected change and … unsparingly shares the whole truth of it with her readers.”
With A Killing in the Hills, Keller returns to her West Virginia roots to write a legal thriller. The novel opens dramatically: Seventeen-year-old Carla is waiting for her mother to pick her up from a fast-food restaurant when a gunman enters, shoots three elderly men at point-blank range, and calmly makes his escape. Carla, it turns out, is the daughter of Bell Elkins, the county’s head prosecutor, who survived a tough childhood in West Virginia, became a successful lawyer in Washington, DC, then moved back to her home state because she wanted to make a difference in the lives of the state’s poor and increasingly drug-addicted residents. Her daughter, however, has changed from a charming little girl into a sulky teen, and much of the novel deals with Carla’s love-hate relationship with her mother. Complicating matters for her is that she recognized the killer: She had seen him at a party, one where drugs and alcohol ran freely—that she cannot tell her mother about. Bell and her longtime friend, Sheriff Nick Fogelsong, have been fighting a drug kingpin in the county, so they immediately suspect that the killings in the restaurant are drug related. Amy Dalton noted on CriminalElement.com: “The story is … about how drugs are destroying small, rural towns across America. And how the profits that can be made from exploiting even the poorest people can corrupt the most unlikely citizens and corrode entire communities across all economic levels.” As Bell and the sheriff investigate the murders, her life, as well as Carla’s, comes under growing threat. Meanwhile, Bell has to make a decision about whether to prosecute a mentally disabled young man who has been accused of murdering a six-year-old child.
A Killing in the Hills is Keller’s second novel, and the reviews were much more favorable than those for Back Home. A Kirkus Reviews contributor, for instance, concluded that the novel is a “mystery that has plenty of twists and turns and a shocking conclusion.” In Library Journal, Teresa L. Jacobsen called the novel a “superbly detailed and suspense-drenched mystery.” Michele Leber, writing in Booklist, praised the novel for its “impeccably paced plot, supple prose, and indelibly drawn characters.” Leber concluded: “A page-turner with substance and depth, this is as suspenseful and entertaining as it is accomplished.”
A Killing in the Hills serves as the first installment of the “Bell Elkins” series, and the eponymous heroine appears again in Bitter River, Summer of the Dead, and Last Ragged Breath. The story in the latter title references historical events, namely the 1972 Buffalo Creek flood in West Virginia that claimed the lives of more than one hundred people. In the present day, Royce Dillard lives as a recluse. His parents were killed in the flood when he was a child, and Royce was raised by his aunt. When Ed Hackel, an outsider and marketer, is found dead in a creek near Acker’s Gap, Royce is named the primary suspect. Everyone in town knew that Ed was pressuring Royce to sell his land so it could be part of the Mountain Magic resort development. Bell is assigned to Royce’s trial, but as Bell looks into the case, she becomes convinced that the man she is supposed to prosecute is actually innocent. She begins to investigate further, uncovering more secrets in a downtrodden and exploited region of Appalachia. Anyone in Acker’s Gap had a reason to kill Ed.
Reviews of Last Ragged Breath were largely positive, and online BookLoons correspondent Hilary Williamson called Bell “a heroine with grit and guts.” Williamson went on to conclude: “As always, Bell figures it out—and is rewarded with a very pleasant personal surprise at the end of this episode.” Leber, writing again in Booklist, was also impressed, asserting: “With bits of her backstory still being revealed, Elkins is certainly among the best-drawn characters in crime fiction today.” In a rare negative assessment, Chicago Tribune correspondent Lloyd Sachs warned that “the connection between the historical disaster and unexceptional murder is tenuous.” Chicago Tribune Online columnist Elizabeth Taylor countered this assessment, remarking that “Keller digs even more deeply to expose the contradictions of Appalachia.” Taylor then commended the “wonderfully intricate plot lines” as well as “Keller’s original voice, which is amplified by her marvelous use of language.”
In the words of Washington Times Online reviewer Oline H. Cogdill, “Keller’s affinity for fine character studies continues to shine. Bell isn’t the easiest character to like, but her intentions are without fault and her personal growth throughout the series has been a pleasure to read.” A Publishers Weekly contributor was equally laudatory, advising that “Keller conveys smalltown mind-sets with a folksy style that richly evokes a part of Appalachia.” Patrick T. Reardon on the Patrick T. Reardon Blog observed that “Last Ragged Breath is a book about beauty in decay, beauty in squalor, beauty in a West Virginia that had fallen on hard times that are getting harder. It’s about saints who are sinners, and sinners who are saints. About the kind of people who populate great literature, and the world in which they live.” Indeed, as a Reactions to Reading Web site writer put it, “Keller always draws the reader back to place. We see the good and the bad. The poverty and the wealth. We see people clinging desperately to what little remains of the coal mining industry not because they are unaware of the damage coal does to the planet or those that mine it but because their alternatives are abject poverty or drug running. Or leaving.” Offering further applause in Kirkus Reviews, a critic called Last Ragged Breath “a beautifully crafted mystery in which Keller … explores love, hate, and poverty in a place of stunning natural beauty with pockets of overwhelming ugliness. The ending may leave you in tears.”
Sorrow Road, from 2016, continues the “Bell Elkins” series. Bell is shocked to find that a former law school classmate of hers died in a car crash shortly after asking her to look into the death of her father at a local Alzheimer’s care facility. On a personal level, her daughter, Clara, has returned home suddenly while her own relationship with Clay is stagnant.
Booklist contributor Jane Murphy remarked that “the setting and the tone will appeal to fans of both Sharyn McCrumb and Julia Spencer-Fleming.” Murphy found the novel to be “another outstanding entry in a superb series.” A Publishers Weekly contributor admitted that “Keller writes well, but a soap opera of a subplot … distracts from the main narrative.” A contributor to Kirkus Reviews reasoned that “although this isn’t the best of Keller’s deeply nuanced, beautifully written examinations of life and death in hardscrabble coal country … its exploration of the ravages of Alzheimer’s is deeply moving.”
In Fast Falls the Night, a bad batch of heroin causes a number of overdose-related deaths in Acker’s Gap. Law enforcement tries to find the dealer, but a larger debate about personal responsibility reduces sympathy for the victims. In the middle of this, Bell’s sister Shirley wishes to discuss two life-changing secrets with her. A Publishers Weekly contributor observed that the author holds “a core series theme … strong by bringing in old family secrets through a secondary plot.” A contributor to Kirkus Reviews lauded that “Keller’s prose is so pure that her exploration of the desperate scourge of drugs and poverty and her forecast of a grim future for her heroine are a joy to read.” Booklist contributor Michele Leber insisted that “Keller’s finely honed prose and emotional depth mark this series as exceptional in the world of crime fiction.”
With Bone on Bone, Bell has completed her sentence for unknowingly murdering her father when she was ten. No longer a lawyer, she wishes to continue her fight against drug abuse in the state. Bell is distracted, though, when a drug-related death of a banker grabs her attention and energy. A contributor to Kirkus Reviews commented that “fans of this brilliant series will not be disappointed by the murder mystery or the big reveal of its heroine’s motivation for trashing her life.” A Publishers Weekly contributor insisted that “this thoughtful, painfully empathetic story will long linger in the reader’s memory.”
Keller published The Cold Way Home in 2019. While investigating the disappearance of a runaway teenager, Bell discovers the body of a woman who was murdered in the same place her grandmother had been murdered some sixty years earlier. With wheelchair-bound former trooper Jake Oakes and former sheriff Nick Fogelsong, Bell investigates the case along with the shady history and connections of the nearby Wellwood state mental hospital.
Booklist contributor Leber insisted that the entire series is notable “for its evocation of place and for the sensitive portrayals of its characters.” Leber concluded by labeling The Cold Way Home “introspective, literary crime fiction at its best.” A contributor to Kirkus Reviews called the novel “a gritty tale of despair, family pride, hope, and second chances.”
Keller initiated the “Dark Intercept” series in 2017 with the publication of The Dark Intercept. As the twenty-third century comes to an end, the New Earth government has resorted to weaponizing emotions as a means to control the population. Violet Crowley, who is the daughter of New Earth’s founder and president, works with the police’s Intercept program to prevent crime by making would-be criminals emotionally relive their most painful memories. The Rebels of Light claim to be able to bypass Intercept, leading to a potential breakdown of the order created by the government.
A Publishers Weekly contributor opined that “the central romance between Violet and Danny never feels fully believable.” The same reviewer concluded that the story’s “climax leads to a lackluster resolution.” Booklist contributor Enishia Davenport criticized that the development of the characters “doesn’t quite come together” and the second half of the book “seems rushed.” Nevertheless, Davenport posited that “Keller’s novel delivers a dazzling, thought-provoking vision of the future.”
Dark Mind Rising is the second novel in the series, taking place two years after the end of the previous novel. In it, Violet is startled to find that the Intercept may not be gone for good. Violet takes on a case of a mother who doubts that her daughter’s death was by suicide. This causes Violet to look more broadly at reported teen suicide cases, where she uncovers some unpleasant patterns. A contributor to Kirkus Reviews lamented that “the uneven writing bounces among maudlin, melodramatic, and painfully cliché.” The same reviewer noted that “the conclusion will frustrate.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, April 1, 2008, George Cohen, review of Mr. Gatling’s Terrible Marvel: The Gun That Changed Everything and the Misunderstood Genius Who Invented It, p. 14; September 15, 2009, Michael Cart, review of Back Home, p. 58; July 1, 2012, Michele Leber, review of A Killing in the Hills, p. 29; August 1, 2013, Michele Leber, review of Bitter River, p. 34; July 1, 2014, Michele Leber, review of Summer of the Dead, p. 44; June 1, 2015, Michele Leber, review of Last Ragged Breath, p. 55; July 1, 2016, Jane Murphy, review of Sorrow Road, p. 37; June 1, 2017, Michele Leber, review of Fast Falls the Night, p. 58; October 1, 2017, Enishia Davenport, review of The Dark Intercept, p. 77; July 1, 2019, Michele Leber, review of The Cold Way Home, p. 25.
Chicago Tribune, October 15, 2015, Lloyd Sachs, review of Last Ragged Breath.
Editor & Publisher, May 1, 2005, Jennifer Saba, “Pulitzers: No Twisting the Truth in Illinois.”
Kirkus Reviews, April 1, 2008, review of Mr. Gatling’s Terrible Marvel; July 15, 2009, review of Back Home; August 1, 2012, review of A Killing in the Hills; August 15, 2013, review of Bitter River; August 1, 2014, review of Summer of the Dead; June 15, 2015, review of Last Ragged Breath; June 15, 2016, review of Sorrow Road; June 15, 2017, review of Fast Falls the Night; August 15, 2017, review of The Dark Intercept; July 1, 2018, review of Bone on Bone; September 15, 2018, review of Dark Mind Rising; July 1, 2019, review of The Cold Way Home.
Library Journal, August 1, 2012, Teresa L Jacobsen, review of A Killing in the Hills, p. 57.
Publishers Weekly, March 3, 2008, review of Mr. Gatling’s Terrible Marvel, p. 35; August 31, 2009, review of Back Home, p. 59; June 17, 2013, review of Bitter River, p. 40; June 1, 2015, review of Last Ragged Breath, p. 41; June 27, 2016, review of Sorrow Road, p. 62; June 26, 2017, review of Fast Falls the Night, p. 155; October 9, 2017, review of The Dark Intercept, p. 69; July 1, 2019, review of The Cold Way Home, p. 47.
School Library Journal, November 1, 2009, Kathleen Isaacs, review of Back Home, p. 112; October 1, 2017, Amanda Foust, review of The Dark Intercept, p. 100.
Skipping Stones, November 1, 2009, review of Back Home, p. 33.
Xpress Reviews, August 30, 2013, Stephanie Klose, review of Bitter River; August 5, 2016, Gloria Drake, review of Sorrow Road.
ONLINE
BookLoons, http://www.bookloons.com/ (April 15, 2016), Hilary Williamson, review of Last Ragged Breath.
Chicago Tribune, http://www.chicagotribune.com/ (April 15, 2016), Elizabeth Taylor, review of Last Ragged Breath.
Chicago Tribune Biography Pages, http://bio.tribune.com/ (June 11, 2013), “Julia Keller.”
CriminalElement.com, http://www.criminalelement.com/ (August 17, 2012), Amy Dalton, review of A Killing in the Hills.
Huffington Post, https://www.huffpost.com/ (August 22, 2017), Mark Rubinstein, “‘Fast Falls the Night,’ a Conversation with Julia Keller.”
Julia Keller, http://www.juliakeller.net (May 13, 2013).
National Book Review, https://www.thenationalbookreview.com/ (August 24, 2016), author interview; (August 17, 2017), author interview.
Ohio State University, http://www.osu.edu/ (June 22, 2005), “Three Ohio State Alums Take Pulitzer Honors.”
Patrick T. Reardon Blog, http://www.patricktreardon.com/ (August 25, 2015), Patrick T. Reardon, review of Last Ragged Breath.
Pulitzer Prize, http://www.pulitzer.org/ (June 22, 2005), “The 2005 Pulitzer Prize Winners—Feature Writing.”
Reactions to Reading, http://reactionstoreading.com/ (March 4, 2016), review of Last Ragged Breath.
Time Out Chicago, http://www.timeoutchicago.com/ (May 15, 2012), Robert Feder, author interview.
Washington Times, http://washingtontimesonline.com/ (August 24, 2015), Oline H. Cogdill, review of Last Ragged Breath.
No bio
Julia Keller
Julia Keller was born and raised in Huntington, West Virginia. She graduated from Marshall University, then later earned a doctoral degree in English Literature at Ohio State University.She was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University and has taught at Princeton and Ohio State Universities, and the University of Notre Dame. She is an essayist for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on PBS. In 2005, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing.Julia lives in a high-rise in Chicago and a stone cottage on a lake in rural Ohio.
Genres: Mystery, Science Fiction
New Books
July 2019
(paperback)
Bone on Bone
(Bell Elkins, book 7)
August 2019
(hardback)
The Cold Way Home
(Bell Elkins, book 8)
November 2019
(hardback)
Dark Star Calling
(Dark Intercept, book 3)
November 2019
(paperback)
Dark Mind Rising
(Dark Intercept, book 2)
Series
Bell Elkins
1. A Killing in the Hills (2012)
2. Bitter River (2013)
3. Summer of the Dead (2014)
3.5. A Haunting of the Bones (2014)
3.6. The Devil's Step-Daughter (2014)
3.7. Ghost Roll (2015)
4. Last Ragged Breath (2015)
4.5. Evening Street (2015)
5. Sorrow Road (2016)
6. Fast Falls the Night (2017)
7. Bone on Bone (2018)
8. The Cold Way Home (2019)
Thus Far (2016)
Dark Intercept
1. The Dark Intercept (2017)
2. Dark Mind Rising (2018)
3. Dark Star Calling (2019)
Novels
Back Home (2009)
Novellas
The Tablet of Scaptur (2017)
Non fiction
Mr. Gatling's Terrible Marvel (2008)
Awards
Barry Awards Best First Novel winner (2013) : A Killing in the Hills
Julia Keller, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and former cultural critic at the Chicago Tribune, is the author of many books for adults and young readers, including A Killing in the Hills, the first book in the Bell Elkins series and winner of the Barry Award for Best First Novel (2013); Back Home; and The Dark Intercept. Keller has a Ph.D. in English literature from Ohio State and was awarded Harvard University's Nieman Fellowship. She was born in West Virginia and lives in Ohio.
Julia Keller
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Julia Keller is an American writer and former journalist.[1] Her awards include the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing.
Contents
1
Life
2
Career
3
Books
3.1
Bell Elkins mysteries
3.1.1
Bell Elkins e-novellas
3.2
The Dark Intercept
4
References
5
External links
Life[edit]
Keller was born in Huntington, West Virginia and lived there throughout her early life. Her father was a mathematics professor who taught at Marshall University. She graduated from Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, and earned a doctoral degree in English Literature from Ohio State University.[2][3][4][5] Her master's thesis was an analysis of the Henry Roth novel, Call It Sleep. Her doctoral dissertation explored multiple biographies of Virginia Woolf (A poetics of literary biography: The creation of "Virginia Woolf", Ohio State, 1996). She currently lives in both Chicago and rural Ohio.[2]
Career[edit]
Keller was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University from the period of 1998 to 1999.[5][4] She has taught at Princeton University, the University of Notre Dame, and the University of Chicago.[4] She also has served four times as a juror for the Pulitzer Prizes. Her reviews and commentary air on National Public Radio and on The Newshour (PBS).
Keller began her career as a journalist as an intern for columnist Jack Anderson.[5] She went on to work for over 25 years as a reporter for many major newspapers, including the Columbus Dispatch, The Daily Independent, and the Chicago Tribune.[4][5] She joined the staff of the Chicago Tribune in late 1998.[5] She was formerly employed as a cultural critic for the Chicago Tribune, but left her job in 2012 to write full-time.[2][6]
Keller won the annual Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing for her three-part narrative account of the deadly Utica, Illinois tornado outbreak, published by the Chicago Tribune in April 2004. The jury called it a "gripping, meticulously reconstructed account of a deadly 10-second tornado".[1] The Tribune has won many Pulitzers but Keller's prize was its first win for feature writing.
In 2008, Keller wrote a nonfiction book that detailed the cultural impact of the Gatling gun. In 2012, she started publishing a series of mysteries, The Bell Elkins Mysteries, that details a woman's return to Appalachia and the mysteries that abound in her home town.[2] The first book in the series. starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Kirkus, and Booklist. It was also a winner of the Barry Award for Best First Mystery.
Books[edit]
External video
Presentation by Keller about Mr. Gatling's Terrible Marvel at the Printers Row Book Fair, June 8, 2008, C-SPAN
Mr. Gatling's Terrible Marvel: The Gun That Changed Everything and the Misunderstood Genius Who Invented It (Viking, 2008)
Back Home (Egmont, 2009), named by Booklist as one of the top ten YA debut novels of the year
Bell Elkins mysteries[edit]
A Killing in the Hills (Minotaur, 2012); ISBN 978-1250028754
Bitter River (Minotaur, 2013) ISBN 978-1250076212
Summer of the Dead (Minotaur, 2014) ISBN 978-1250044730
Last Ragged Breath (Minotaur, 2015) ISBN 978-1250044761
Sorrow Road (Minotaur, 2016) ISBN 978-1250089588
Fast Falls the Night (Minotaur, 2017) ISBN 9781250089618
Bone on Bone (Minotaur, 2018) ISBN 978-1250190925
The Cold Way Home (Minotaur, 2019) ISBN 978-1250191229
Bell Elkins e-novellas[edit]
The Devil's Stepdaughter (Minotaur, 2014)
A Haunting of the Bones (Minotaur, 2014)
Ghost Roll (Minotaur, 2015)
Evening Street (Minotaur, 2015)
The Dark Intercept[edit]
The Dark Intercept (Tor Teen, 2017) ISBN 9780765387622
Dark Mind Rising (Tor Teen, 2018) ISBN 9780765387653
The newest installment in Julia Keller’s Ackers Gap, West Virginia mystery series is out and it is a return to the hardscrabble world she drew so powerfully in the first four books. The series draws on Keller’s own experience in West Virginia, and her understanding of the toughness required to live in a beautiful place marked by poverty and despair. Keller, who has a Ph.D. in English (with a focus on Virginia Woolf), won a Pulitzer Prize for feature writing for her three-part series in the Chicago Tribune about a deadly tornado and its aftermath. Keller has been a Nieman Fellow at Harvard, and has taught at Princeton, the University of Chicago, and the University of Notre Dame. Before embarking on her book tour, she answered questions from The National.
Q: Sorrow Road is the fifth book in your series set in Ackers Gap, with county prosecutor Bell Elkins as protagonist. How have Ackers Gap and Bell evolved over time?
A: I hope they have changed a great deal – just as people and places change in real life. With each book, I explore a different aspect of life in a small, broken town in a forgotten state, and I do have to make an effort to let people grow and change – and not always in positive ways. I always wanted to write a series – because I love them as a reader – but I had not anticipated the daunting creative challenge of letting characters do as they will, regardless of my idea of what they SHOULD be doing. Now I know how God feels.
Q: You’ve spoken about “Appalachian fatalism.” Can you explain the meaning of the phrase, and how you’ve come to understand it.
A: I first read that phrase in an essay by Kentucky-born writer Chris Offutt, and it resonated instantly for me. It explained so much. It explained why my father, a brilliant mathematics professor, was steeped in a melancholy that sort of twisted around him like the smoke from his ever-present cigarette; it explained why so many of my relatives seemed to never quite take hold in their lives. Appalachia can breed a kind of resignation, a soft folding-in of the spirit.
This is not Thoreau’s idea of the great mass of humanity leading “lives of quiet desperation.” It is less furious that all that. It’s a steady diminution of hope. A wearing-away of optimism. Sometimes I think it comes from the presence of the mountains, which makes travel difficult. Other times, I think it comes from the economic exploitation that has long been a tragic feature of the region. But no matter what the source is, you can see it in the eyes of Appalachians: a sense that circumstances aren’t likely to get much better, and that the odds don’t look good. So you do your best and you just keep going. You weather the storm. And that storm is called life.
Q: Your novels are very much rooted in West Virginia, and there’s a nice ripped-from-the headlines-feel. You’ve taken on social issues -- the opiate epidemic, Alzheimer’s Disease, and most recently post-war trauma. How do those themes emerge for you, and how much research do you do?
A: As I was writing the first book in the series, A Killing in the Hills, I would drive over to West Virginia quite often. I’d walk through cemeteries. I’d make sure I looked at the sky. There is a universality about human experience – pain, loss, death, joy, fear – that I wanted to capture in the books, but I also wanted to capture the specifics of this time, this place, these people.
And the issues you list – the prescription drug epidemic that now has widened out to be a heroin epidemic as well, the challenges of an aging, ailing population, and the needs of our military veterans – all are grievous problems in contemporary West Virginia. I keep up on the social and economic issues that bedevil Appalachia through newspapers – The New York Times has done a particularly fine job of chronicling the changes to the region as the coal industry bows out – and by talking with friends and relatives who have stayed.
Q: In A Killing in the Hills, Bell Elkins moved back to West Virginia. Were you ever tempted to do that?
A: All the time. I still consider it. But I’m afraid that the West Virginia I remember is not the one that exists now; most of the people from my childhood, frankly, are dead, and if I returned now, I’d be living amongst ghosts. As Heraclitus said, “You can’t step in the same river twice.” I am sure he meant the Ohio River.
Q: Let’s talk genre. Can you explain why some crime books land on mystery-thriller-suspense shelves while others find their way to literary fiction? At some level, aren’t all novels really mysteries of some sort?
A: They are! And I dearly wish I had a magic spell with which I could wipe out those imprisoning categories of genre. I often remind people that Dorothy Parker divided her books into only two groups: Good and Crap. Works for me.
Q: You’ve written several novellas centering on Bell Elkins, and they were released electronically. Can you explain the appeal of the novella form, and the electronic format?
A: Those novellas weren’t my idea at all – but I ended up really enjoying the writing, and now I believe they constitute an essential part of Bell’s story. My publisher wanted some stories to come out between the novels, during the yearlong lull between annual publication of the hardcovers. Publishing these four shorter works exclusively as e-stories was a financial decision. However, as I said, I’m very glad they exist.
As far as electronic forms of access to stories – it’s not a format I particularly enjoy for my own reading, but I can see the appeal, especially during travel. I’m an old-fashioned girl; I like to hold a book in my hand, and smell the pages, and run my hand over the cover. I have a Nook, and thought I would use it more often, but I’m irretrievably drawn to “real” books.
Q: Do you see yourself returning to non-fiction at some point?
A: Yes, indeed! In fact, I’m working on a proposal right now for a dual biography of two 20th century women who, although ignored and even ridiculed by those who could not see women as visionaries and innovators, achieved remarkable things. Non-fiction requires an entirely different set of writerly muscles. And at their best, both fiction and non-fiction aspire to the goal set forth by Joseph Conrad: “To apply the highest possible justice to the visible universe.”
Q&A: Julia Keller on the Craft of Mystery-Writing (Pro-Tip: Coffee, Coffee, and More Coffee)
Fast Falls the Night is the newest of in Julia Keller’s Acker’s Gap, West Virginia mystery series. The mysteries are set hardscrabble West Virginia and feature fierce county prosecutor Bell Elkins, who has sharp instincts and a strong sense of justice. Keller, a native West Virginian like Bell, has a feel for the state’s beautiful landscape, as well as its history of poverty, despair, and hardship. Keller’s West Virginia roots allow her to access the concerns of its citizens – the opioid epidemic, the beleaguered mining industry, among others – and these play into the twists and turns of her fiction.
Keller, who has a Ph.D. in English (with a focus on Virginia Woolf), was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing for her three-part series in the Chicago Tribune about a deadly tornado and its aftermath. She has been a Nieman Fellow at Harvard, and has taught at Princeton, the University of Chicago, and the University of Notre Dame. Keller intended Fast Falls the Night, her sixth novel in the series, to be the last, but she discovered last summer she had more stories to tell. The seventh book, Bone on Bone, the eighth, Facedown in the Rain, will appear in 2018 and 2019.
Keller took a break from her work to talk with the National about the craft of mystery writing.
Q: You’ve written essays of cultural and literary criticism, news stories, novels for young adults, deeply-researched books of history. Are there special techniques you’ve developed in these forms that you bring to writing mystery?
A: I wish it were so! Frankly, of all the genres in which I've written, I find mystery-writing to be the most challenging, and the one for which my earlier work has prepared me the least. Fiction in general must be entertaining and, if one has literary aspirations, it must offer something beyond a mere description of reality. In the writing of mysteries, however, the ante is upped even more: in addition to being beguiling, and quasi-profound, the work must ALSO be tricky and surprising! It's an impossible burden -- and not for the faint of heart.
I often say that the ending of a mystery, when the culprit is revealed, must provoke two emotions, absolutely simultaneously: "I didn't see that coming!” and "But of course!'" Agatha Christie was especially good at this. And by the way, I think she's underrated as a writer, if that's possible to say about someone so popular. Reading her today, when often you know the outcome of the case in question, reveals just what a superior craftswoman she was, and how skilled in the creation of fetching characters and unforgettable scenes.
Q: I’m curious about how you approach writing mystery. When you began with your first Bell Elkins novel, A Killing in the Hills, did you know that you wanted to do a series? How does writing a novel in a series shape each part?
A: Oh, yes, I conceived of it as a series from the get-go. I've always admired series, from childhood days when I'd gaze at my collection of Tom Swift and Hardy Boys novels (yellow for the Swifts, blue for the Boys), and some lesser series, too, such as Brains Benton, who’s best thought of as a sort of early version of Sheldon Cooper of TV's "Big Bang Theory," and a spy series with titles such as "X Marks the Spy." I'd walk to Arlen's, a department store in my neighborhood in Huntington, West Virginia, and spend my allowance on additional volumes of whatever series had caught my fancy that month.
In the case of my own series, I wanted to follow the arc of the life of my main character, Belfa Elkins, as she moves through her days -- not only forwards, but also backwards, into her past. Stories are the greatest time machines ever invented.
Q: How do you begin each novel? I’ve read that Dan Brown advises writing the plot by doing first and last chapter simultaneously – likening it to burning a candle at both ends. Do you know where each novel is going to go?
A: I don't. Surely my life -- and my book-writing -- would be a great deal simpler and more efficient if I DID have such a sense of where each is going to wind up, but I've never been able to write that way. I've always trusted the universe to lead me on toward some interesting outcome – even though the universe, alas, often lets me down. Typically, about three-quarters of the way through the writing of a book, I'll realize what the ending is, and I do admit to skipping ahead sometimes to write it -- just out of the sheer joy of doing it. Telling me to hold back and write in sequence would be, at that point, like telling my six-year-old self not to come down the stairs on Christmas morning, when I can clearly see, from a cursory peek, that there are TOYS down there, by golly.
I remember leaping ahead that way with Last Ragged Breath, the fourth book in the series, which is based on the Buffalo Creek disaster, a real-life catastrophe in southern West Virginia, near my hometown. I knew that a certain dog would figure in the ending. Once I knew that, I HAD to write it. So I treated myself and wrote the scene in which a character is reunited with his beloved pooch.
Q: Do you do an outline, and a chapter-by-chapter structure?
A: No. I never did that with news stories, either, although I had an editor some years ago -- at a newspaper in Columbus, Ohio -- who had read somewhere that all good reporters work from an outline and so she demanded that we all do so. Period. No exceptions. We'd have to show her our outlines if she stopped by our desks. Ornery scamp that I am, I constructed an all-purpose, one-size-fits-all outline that would work for any story, and I would brandish this if she happened to come by my desk.
To this day, I despise the notion of "tips" and "strategies" for writers. I enjoy hearing how writers work -- morning vs. night, tea vs. coffee -- but the idea of being able to transfer a game plan from one imagination to another seems ludicrous and even rather demeaning. Journalism is particularly enamored of these prescriptive lists; I recently read a piece in the Columbia Journalism Review that solicited "tips" from reporters about how they do what they do. Somewhere, an editor is reading that article, and getting ready to demand that her employees follow the tips to the letter.
Q: So, morning coffee, or afternoon tea? Let’s hear it! How do you work?
A: Coffee, coffee, and more coffee. Balzac allegedly drank at least fourteen cups each night; that sounds about right for me, too, as long as you double it. Tea belongs with more leisurely pursuits. Coffee is for hard work. I rise early – 4 a.m. or so – and persuade my dog, Edward, that it really IS morning, despite all evidence to the contrary. He goes outside, barks at the darkness, and I sit down at my computer and do my own kind of barking: I write. When I’m immersed in a novel, I can sit for shocking amounts of time, racking up sentences and paragraphs. I’ve never been much of a nighttime writer. For me, morning is golden. As Edna O’Brien once said, writing in the morning is best – because that’s when we are closest to our dreams.
Q: How aware of you are leaving clues in your mysteries, possibly leading readers to anticipate that the novel will go one way, and then twist another?
A: As a reader, I love twists and red herrings and all of the trappings of a great mystery. The late Ruth Rendell was a master of that; her plot twists are gasp-worthy and yet always plausible. Mo Hayder, Elizabeth George, and Michael Marshall are also wonderfully adept at leading us up the garden path, so to speak, and then tripping us up. But I do think that plot twists are sometimes overrated in mysteries. Some mystery writers don't ever surprise you with a monumental twist -- but you keep reading, because the creation of the atmosphere is accomplished with such consummate skill. Benjamin Black -- the mystery author persona of the great John Banville -- writes somewhat pedestrian and even lackluster plots, but the moody bleakness of a black-and-white Ireland is so penetrating that you don't really care about the plot. I'd say the same about Ian Rankin and Denise Mina: "Meh" plots but fabulously atmospheric writing.
Q: What’s the key to building – and sustaining momentum in a mystery?
A: I wish I knew! I regard with awe the work of writers whose gripping novels build in steady increments, so much so that you can barely breathe until you've come to the end: Dennis Lehane's Mystic River, for instance, or the novels of Tana French. French's Broken Harbor kept me totally spellbound. As a writer, I try to build that kind of gradual but increasingly intense pacing through character. If we care about the characters, then we care about what happens to them, bit by horrific bit. To me, no plot -- no matter how intricate or complex or twisty -- can make up for a character who is indifferently drawn.
Q: Let me ask you how you see the difference between a ‘mystery’ and a ‘thriller.’ Do you believe the cliché that in a thriller, a villain drives the story and that in a mystery, the story is driven by the protagonist?
A.: I used to sneer at labels, and note that Dorothy Parker often claimed there are only two categories of books: Good and Crap. However, now that I write my own books, I understand why genres are important. Genres are about expectations. People don't have much time these days, and they want to find the books they know they'll enjoy. Thus I have officially withdrawn my objection to genres. And to me, the difference between a mystery and a thriller is a matter of nuance: Tell me that a book is a "mystery" and I think of an exploration of good vs. evil, and of the elucidation of a moral conundrum, heavy on characterization. Tell me that a book is a "thriller" and I think of an international setting, liberally seasoned with worldly cynicism and a lot of high-speed car chases. There is a great deal of crossover between these genres, of course, but in general, the word "mystery" makes me think of Sue Grafton and Val McDermid, while the world "thriller" makes me think of Phillip Kerr and John LeCarre and Robert Wilson.
‘Fast Falls the Night,’ A Conversation with Julia Keller
08/22/2017 06:12 am ET
Julia Keller earned a doctorate in English Literature at Ohio State University and is a former culture critic for the Chicago Tribune where she won a Pulitzer Prize for a three-part narrative series about a deadly tornado that struck a small town in Illinois. She is a recipient of a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University, and contributes on-air essays to NPR.
Fast Falls the Night covers 24 hours in Acker’s Gap, West Virginia, a town facing a wave of fatal heroin overdoses. Bell Elkins, a county prosecutor, realizes her Appalachian hometown is facing a terrible challenge because the fatal overdoses are caused by heroin laced with a lethal tranquilizer. The novel occurs against the backdrop of a shattering personal revelation that will change Bell’s life forever.
REAL LIFE. REAL NEWS. REAL VOICES.
Help us tell more of the stories that matter from voices that too often remain unheard.
Support HuffPost
I understand the premise of “Fast Falls the Night” is based on a true event. Tell us about that.
I was in my hometown of Huntington, West Virginia on August fifteenth, 2016, The town has fallen on very hard times, which have been exacerbated by the ongoing opioid epidemic and escalating heroin use. The town was virtually unrecognizable to me. It was a singular day in the history of Huntington: it was the day when there were twenty-eight drug overdoses within twenty-four-hours. Two of them resulted in fatalities. A bad batch of heroin, laced with a lethal tranquilizer, had begun to circulate through the town.
You portray the Appalachian town of Acker’s Gap as a place of quiet desperation. You focus on a twenty-four-hour period of time. Tell us more.
Acker’s Gap is a fictional town, much smaller than Huntington, but I constructed it with my hometown in mind. I was so struck by what actually happened during the course of twenty-four hours in Huntington, I decided to scrap the format of the novel I’d already started, and began writing again, placing everything within a twenty-four hour period of time.
“Fast Falls the Night” is told through the eyes of different characters—a sheriff, a prosecutor, an EMT technician, a preacher, among others. What are the advantages of this method of storytelling?
In telling the story of Fast Falls the Night, I realized the novel had to be told from multiple points of view. I wanted to portray a shifting kaleidoscope of woe, so the reader sees everything that’s happening in the town—the troubles and tragedies—from multiple perspectives. It seemed a perfect template to explore one of the great moral issues of our time: with limited financial resources, what should we do? Do we rescue addicts for the eighth or ninth time, using our scarce resources, or do we say, ‘They brought this on themselves?’
This has been argued in state legislatures, and we each argue it in our heart and soul. What do we owe other people? To me, the answer is clear: we all deserve as many chances as we’re willing to ask for. There’s a great moral crisis in our country now—and the novel tells the story of what people owe each other, but on a smaller scale.
To go back to your first question, this novel was born out of reality but blossomed into fiction, which is where I believe social issues can be explored and debated in as worthy a manner as they can be in real life.
Tell us about your journey to becoming a published novelist.
I always intended to be a novelist. All the great twentieth-century writers I admired started out as journalists—Hemingway, Willa Cather, and Katherine Anne Porter—all had newspaper backgrounds. I thought that’s what you do: you work for a newspaper and learn about the world by putting yourself in experiences you would never otherwise have. That’s what I did and really enjoyed it. I worked for the Columbus Dispatch and then for the Chicago Tribune. After I won the Pulitzer Prize, I heard from agents who asked if I would be interested in writing a book. I said I would, but told them I wanted to write fiction. A few of them ran screaming from that notion, but some stuck around. I’ve always felt fiction is superior to non-fiction. Non-fiction lives for a day, but good fiction can live forever. After all, we’re still reading Homer. That was my journey to where I am now. I left the Tribune in 2012, and have been able to support myself by writing.
What’s a typical writing day like for you?
I’m an early riser. After copious cups of coffee, I sit down and write. I’m very much a morning writer. I’ve had to become an evening writer as well due to deadlines. [Laughter].
Your prose is quite lyrical. Who are your literary influences?
In the twentieth century, I would have to say the biggest influences for me have been Willa Cather and Edith Wharton. Reading Cather’s Song of the Lark was a revelatory experience for me. It has so much to say about young people and their dreams.
Which contemporary authors do you enjoy reading?
I enjoy reading books by John le Carre and I think Dennis Lehane is a great novelist. There’s also a British novelist, Sarah Hall, whose book I read recently and I’m now reading virtually everything she ever wrote. I also enjoy novels by Helen Dunmore, who recently died. I also love novels by an Australian novelist, Peter Temple. His sentences are beautifully sculpted.
If you could read any one novel again as though reading it for the first time, which one would it be?
That’s an easy one for me to answer: An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser, which I read in high school. The emotional impact of that novel and the social issues it explored have stayed with me all these years.
What’s coming next from Julia Keller?
I’m writing a young adult trilogy. The first novel, The Dark Intercept, is set in a future world where the government can harvest and archive our emotions and when it seeks to control us, sends intense emotions back into us.
Congratulations on penning “Fast Falls the Night”, a beautifully crafted novel filled with insights about the human condition and populated by fully realized and tragic characters.
Mark Rubinstein’s latest book is “Beyond Bedlam’s Door: True Tales from the Couch and Courtroom.”
* The Cold Way Home.
By Julia Keller.
Aug. 2019.320p. Minotaur, $27.99 (9781250191229); e-book, $14.99 (9781250191243).
Near the ruins of Wellwood, a state-run mental hospital now long abandoned, Bell Elkins finds a woman's body. It's not that of the runaway teenager whom her agency, Investigations, has been hired to find but rather that of Darla Gilley, a lifelong resident of Acker's Gap, West Virginia, who died in the same place where her grandmother, Bessie, had died 60 years earlier, both of them murdered. Investigations, made up of three "formers"--former prosecutor Bell, former sheriff Nick Fogelsong, and former trooper Jake Oakes, injured on duty and confined to a wheelchair--is asked to work on the Gilley case, the first major homicide in the area in more than a year. Wellwood's dreadful I history is a major factor in the crime, but it all revolves around family, a theme that's central to the lives of the major characters. Bell, divorced with her only child an adult daughter in Charleston, considers her colleagues family; Nick, in the midst of a divorce, is in awe at finding love again; while Jake and his live-in lover, Molly, surmount an impasse about their future. Keller's Bell Elkins series sets a standard for its evocation of place and for the sensitive portrayals of its characters, with Bell the most masterfully drawn of all. This is introspective, literary crime fiction at its best.--Michele Leber
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Leber, Michele. "The Cold Way Home." Booklist, 1 July 2019, p. 25. Gale General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A595705012/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=6024cb35. Accessed 11 Aug. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A595705012
Keller, Julia THE COLD WAY HOME Minotaur (Adult Fiction) $27.99 8, 20 ISBN: 978-1-250-19122-9
Three detectives whose lives have been badly damaged hunt for the truth about family murders generations apart.
Bell Elkins has seen the law from both sides (Bone On Bone, 2018, etc.). She's served as a West Virginia prosecuter and served a prison term for killing her abusive father when she was a child, a crime she is unable to remember. While she's waiting to reapply for her law license, Bell has joined two old friends--retired sheriff Nick Fogelsong, whose wife has filed for divorce, and Jake Oakes, a wheelchair-bound former cop shot in the line of duty--to form a detective agency that often helps the present district attorney, who's chronically short of money in a county whose citizens are frequently drug-addicted and desperately poor. Their latest case is to find Maggie Folsom's missing daughter, Dixie Sue. While looking for her, Bell goes to Briney Hollow, a place that awakens unwelcome childhood memories. Deep in the woods are the ruins of Wellwood, a state mental institution that burned down. The body Bell finds there is not that of Dixie Sue but Darla Gilley's, whose dying brother, Joe, was Nick's best friend in high school. Darla had parted ways with her alcoholic husband and was living in the attic of her family home, upstairs from Joe and his wife, Brenda. The estranged husband has an alibi, but he admits that Darla had recently found a book in the attic that had badly upset her. Bell's research and the family diary Darla mailed Nick before her death reveal horrifying information about the myriad lobotomies performed at Wellwood and the unsolved murder of the ancestor who wrote the diary. Bell is cheered by a new puppy, Nick is immersed in an affair, and Jake attempts to deal with his girlfriend's desire to have a baby of her own. But all are determined to put aside their own misfortunes to find Darla's killer.
A gritty tale of despair, family pride, hope, and second chances.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Keller, Julia: THE COLD WAY HOME." Kirkus Reviews, 1 July 2019. Gale General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A591279149/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=98036227. Accessed 11 Aug. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A591279149
The Cold Way Home
Julia Keller. Minotaur, $27.99 (320p) ISBN 978-1-250-19122-9
Mary Higgins Clark-finalist Keller's gloomy eighth Bell Elkins novel (after 2018's Bone on Bone) finds the Acker's Gap, W.Va., prosecutor turned PI stumbling upon a body stuffed in the ruins of Wellwood, a psychiatric hospital that burned to the ground decades earlier. After learning that the victim, Darla Gilley, died of blunt force trauma to the head, Bell works with her business partners, former sheriff Nick Fogelsong and former deputy Jake Oakes, to unravel the murder. They discover that tragedy has plagued the Gilley family for generations, including the murder of Darla's grandmother who worked--and died--at Wellwood. Bell speculates that the two murders are somehow connected, and her sleuthing opens her eyes to a very dark history of psychiatric care during the mid-20th century. Unfortunately, unrelated albeit poignant subplots, such as Jake starting a family with his girlfriend, slow the action. Still, this is a strong addition to the series that can easily be read as a standalone. Agent: Lisa Gallagher, DeFiore & Co. (Aug.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"The Cold Way Home." Publishers Weekly, 1 July 2019, p. 47. Gale General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A592983479/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=88910064. Accessed 11 Aug. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A592983479
Keller, Julia DARK MIND RISING Tor Teen (Young Adult Fiction) $17.99 11, 13 ISBN: 978-0-7653-8765-3
Two years after Violet destroyed the Intercept in The Dark Intercept (2017), she's pulled into a mystery that reveals the Intercept might not be gone.
A one-page recap covers the events and technology of the last book. Violet now runs the near-failing Crowley & Associates Detective Agency. She's offered a case by the mother of a teen whose death has been ruled a suicide--the mother knows her daughter wouldn't kill herself. Readers must power through Violet's tensionless doubt despite definitive knowledge from the girl's point-of-view passage right before her death and multiple pages about the other mysterious alleged suicides that follow (and that convince Violet that it's more than a coincidence). Many of the investigation's deductions come from Violet's fellow teen employee (one of the few characters of color), while Violet dwells on the dark secret that she and Kendall saved his notes on the Intercept. Themes of change and of despair linked to unemployment are less relatable to the characters' chronological ages than to the ages they act--most characters are fully independent genius prodigies, including a preteen who's "one of the top lawyers on New Earth." The uneven writing bounces among maudlin, melodramatic, and painfully cliche, with narration clunkers like "...the Intercept is dead. Or is it?" (of course it's not) and "The tables had turned. The hunters were about to become the hunted." The conclusion will frustrate.
Sloppy and cringeworthy. (Dystopian adventure. 12-adult)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Keller, Julia: DARK MIND RISING." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Sept. 2018. Gale General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A553948933/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=f0a8601d. Accessed 11 Aug. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A553948933
Keller, Julia BONE ON BONE Minotaur (Adult Fiction) $34.99 8, 21 ISBN: 978-1-250-19092-5
A woman determined to atone and make a difference returns to her drug-plagued hometown.
Bell Elkins was born poor in Acker's Gap, West Virginia, and her life has been through many phases (Fast Falls the Night, 2017, etc.). She married, became a lawyer and a mother and led a life of wealth, then divorced and returned home as a tough and determined prosecuting attorney. The revelation that her sister, Shirley, had terminal cancer, and moreover that she had spent years in prison for killing their abusive father while knowing that 10-year-old Bell was guilty of the crime, even if young Bell didn't realize it herself, sent Bell's life into a tailspin. None of her family and friends can fathom why Bell insisted on serving her own prison term for her father's murder when the powers that be would have been happy with a slap on the wrist considering all the mitigating circumstances. Now Bell is back in town trying to decide what to do with her life as she is no longer a lawyer. With the whole state ravaged by opioids, her first thought is to work to hold drug companies morally if not legally responsible, but then she becomes involved in the town's latest drug-related murder. Banker Brett Topping and his wife, Ellie, are at their wits' end trying to save their addicted son, Tyler. Rehab has failed numerous times, and now he's home and stealing their possessions to feed his habit. Ellie is so desperate that she's decided to kill Tyler, but before she can get up the nerve, her husband is shot dead in their driveway. Both Ellie and Tyler have alibis, and Tyler insists it was Deke Foley, the dealer he worked for, whom Brett had threatened to turn in to the police along with "dates, times, places, license plate numbers." The sheriff and prosecutor, desperately short-handed, hire both Bell and a paralyzed former deputy to help with this latest case. Old friends pitch in, and nasty secrets are revealed, but the big question is still why Bell insisted on going to prison.
Fans of this brilliant series will not be disappointed by the murder mystery or the big reveal of its heroine's motivation for trashing her life.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Keller, Julia: BONE ON BONE." Kirkus Reviews, 1 July 2018. Gale General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A544638055/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=887f6cbd. Accessed 11 Aug. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A544638055
* Bone on Bone
Julia Keller. Minotaur, $26.99 (304p) ISBN 978-1-250-19092-5
The inhabitants of the dying town of Acker's Gap, W.Va., face only bleak prospects in Keller's beautifully written seventh Bell Elkins novel (after 2017's Fast Falls the Night). Adults close themselves off emotionally, clutching their despair, while young people are likely to slip into hopeless drug addiction--or dealing. Wheelchair-bound former sheriff's deputy Jake Oakes and just-out-of-prison former prosecutor Bell, who was put behind bars after confessing to her abusive father's murder, also appear to have no useful futures, but they get a new focus by investigating the shooting murder of banker Brett Topping. The police question Topping's 19-year-old drug-addicted son, Tyler, but once Tyler is cleared, along with his ultra-violent dealer, Deke Foley, suspicion shifts to more seemingly wholesome members of the community. Despite the pervading melancholy, characters stubbornly struggle to rediscover purpose for their lives and to pin down responsibility for personal failures This thoughtful, painfully empathetic story will long linger in the reader's memory. Agent: Lisa Gallagher, DeFiore & Co. (Aug.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Bone on Bone." Publishers Weekly, 11 June 2018, p. 43+. Gale General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A542967295/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=6bccfe06. Accessed 11 Aug. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A542967295
The Dark Intercept
Julia Keller. Tor Teen, $17.99 (320p) ISBN 9780-7653-8762-2
In this dystopian trilogy opener set in 2294, a portion of humanity dwells on the artificial paradise of New Earth, which floats above the devastated remnants of the old world, where the less fortunate eke out a hardscrabble existence. Meanwhile, a device known as the Intercept monitors and records all emotions, weaponizing them as needed to control those who get out of line. Sixteen-year-old Violet Crowley, an Intercept operator and daughter of New Earth's founder, wants to find out why her crush, police officer Danny Mayhew--whose brother invented the Intercept--frequently travels back to the surface, despite the rules. Her investigations lead to the discovery of secrets regarding her family history, the Intercept's true purpose, and a rebel group dedicated to freeing humanity from its grasp. Keller (Back Home) presents an intriguing premise, but this story falls apart around the edges, largely due to murky character motivations and aspects of the worldbuilding that don't hold up to close scrutiny. The central romance between Violet and Danny never feels fully believable, and the climax leads to a lackluster resolution. Ages 13--up. Agent: Lisa Gallagher, DeFiore & Co. (Oct.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"The Dark Intercept." Publishers Weekly, 9 Oct. 2017, p. 69. Gale General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A511293403/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=bed0e35b. Accessed 11 Aug. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A511293403
The Dark Intercept. By Julia Keller. Nov. 2017. 320p. Tor Teen, $17.99 (9780765387622). Gr. 9-12.
Keller, author of the riveting Bell Elkins series, delivers a thrilling sf-adventure with her story of a near-future world, where two Earths exist: glitzy New Earth and crime-infested Old Earth. Sixteen-year-old Violet Crowley is the daughter of New Earth's Founding Father, and she lives the life of comfort and safety bestowed upon all citizens of New Earth, courtesy of the Intercept--a peacekeeping device that eradicates crime by monitoring and controlling people's emotions. When her crush, Danny Mayhew, lands in trouble, she leaves the safety of her world and journeys to Old Earth to unearth his secrets. During the course of her investigation, Violet learns staggering truths about Danny, her father, and the Intercept that lead her to question everything she's ever known. Though the second half of the novel seems rushed, and the character development doesn't quite come together as seamlessly as one would hope, Keller's novel delivers a dazzling, thought-provoking vision of the future that raises the question: Is safety worth the sacrifice of freedom? --Enishia Davenport
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Davenport, Enishia. "The Dark Intercept." Booklist, 1 Oct. 2017, p. 77. Gale General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A510653883/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=d13b1b0c. Accessed 11 Aug. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A510653883
Keller, Julia THE DARK INTERCEPT Tor Teen (Children's Informational) $17.99 11, 7 ISBN: 978-0-7653-8762-2
At the end of the 23rd century, government surveillance uses weaponized emotions to control the population.Violet Crowley, the daughter of New Earth's founder, president, and chief executive, works with the police and the Intercept program, surveilling for crime and unleashing the Intercept to halt criminals. The Intercept uses a chip implant to store and categorize memories and emotions, and it incapacitates people by feeding them back, forcing them to relive their worst moments. Violet's got a huge crush on mysterious cop Danny Mayhew, who frequently sneaks to Old Earth despite the danger and refuses to say why. New Earth, which is an artificial society above Old Earth, promises safety for the richest and brightest. (The book claims the division ignores nationality, race, creed, and so forth and gives no thought toward intersectionality in this post-racial future in which most though not all named characters are described as pale; Violet appears to be white, while Danny is described as dark.) But the Rebels of Light are spreading rumors that they've found a way to overcome the Intercept. Balancing contrived worldbuilding (Earth has had resource wars, yet New Earth has strategically placed dilapidated buildings designed to stay vacant--where else would rebel groups meet?) and characters who frequently feel older than 16 are otherwise nuanced characterizations and strong if sometimes heavy-handed themes involving privacy and immigration. Middling and undercooked, redeemed by characters and ideas. (Dystopian adventure. 12-adult)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Keller, Julia: THE DARK INTERCEPT." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Aug. 2017. Gale General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A500364870/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=97d3ce1c. Accessed 11 Aug. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A500364870
Fast Falls the Night
Julia Keller. Minotaur, $25.99 (304p) ISBN 9781-250-08961-8
Despite its 24-hour timeline, Keller's sixth Bell Elkins novel (after 2016's Sorrow Falls) feels less than urgent. In a plot inspired by a true story, a tainted batch of heroin makes its way through Acker's Gap, W.Va., putting police and paramedics into overtime as dozens of addicts overdose. County prosecutor Bell and Deputy Jake Oakes quickly trace the source and warn a community to which they sometimes turn a blind eye. Procedural readers will be disappointed by the lack of case-changing reveals, but they may be assuaged by Keller's skill in depicting the strained relationship between a realistic but unjaded law enforcement team and those whom they could but don't generally prosecute, while treating all the players with human compassion. Keller keeps a core series theme--deep connections in a small multigenerational community--strong by bringing in old family secrets through a secondary plot focusing on child abuse and dramatic developments in Bell's relationship with her ex-felon sister. Agent: Lisa Gallagher, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. (Aug.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Fast Falls the Night." Publishers Weekly, 26 June 2017, p. 155. Gale General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A497444253/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=81303ebe. Accessed 11 Aug. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A497444253
Keller, Julia FAST FALLS THE NIGHT Minotaur (Adult Fiction) $25.99 8, 22 ISBN: 978-1-250-08961-8
A macabre 24 hours discloses a world of pain for Raythune County, West Virginia.Acker's Gap, the county seat, embodies all that's gone wrong in Appalachia. The loss of dangerous but well-paying coal mining jobs has sunk many of the residents into an apathy so deep it can be relieved only for short periods by the cheap heroin flooding the area. Just after midnight, sheriff's deputy Jake Oakes, arriving at the local gas station, finds a young woman near death from an overdose. Bell Elkins, the county's tough chief prosecutor, is a local who came home eight years ago to make a difference (Sorrow Road, 2016, etc.). But now she's seriously considering a proposal from a law school friend to become a partner in a new firm in D.C. Bell refuses to let her love affair go anywhere, and the hopeless poverty and drug abuse surrounding her is getting her down. The night brings more and more reports of overdoses. Most victims are treated with Narcan and recover, but several die, including the first woman, who came from a loving family, and a wealthy lawyer. Once they learn that the heroin has been cut with a fatal dose of elephant tranquilizer, the sheriff's department and EMT squads race with death as they treat more overdoses and scramble to find the local distributor. In the morning, Bell's sister, Shirley, who served a jail sentence for killing their abusive father, tries to meet with her following a discussion with pastor Paul Wolford to discuss two life-changing secrets she's been harboring. The passing hours gradually reveal the pain, suffering, indifference, and duplicity of people who will do dangerous and illegal things to stay afloat. Although Bell's not religious, a hymn a friend recites to her brings her a moment of peace that looks depressingly short-lived. Keller's prose is so pure that her exploration of the desperate scourge of drugs and poverty and her forecast of a grim future for her heroine are a joy to read.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Keller, Julia: FAST FALLS THE NIGHT." Kirkus Reviews, 15 June 2017. Gale General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A495428060/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=1777acf3. Accessed 11 Aug. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A495428060
* Fast Falls the Alight. By Julia Keller. Aug. 2017. 304p. Minotaur, $25.99 (9781250089618); e-book (9781250098368).
Prosecutor Bell Elkins has fought the scourge of drug addiction in Acker's Gap, West Virginia, for years. Then, on a single day, the problem peaks after a batch of heroin laced with toxic carfentanil causes multiple overdoses and several deaths. More than one authority figure voices the problem, but many think that people who use drugs have no one but themselves to blame. But those whose job is to protect the populace still work feverishly to find the local dealer and spread the word about the bad heroin. In the midst of this crisis, Bell's sister, Shirley, has vital secrets to share; a damaged vet fights to keep his young daughter in his life; feelings grow between a deputy and an EMT; and a compassionate pastor confronts his failings. Keller's series featuring Bell Elkins is remarkable for its humanity and its fully realized characters, Bell foremost among them. Here two of the people who matter most to Elkins--her daughter, Carla, and Elkins' lover, Clay--appear only in brief text messages, as Bell focuses on the problems at hand and her own future, with a stunning revelation in the closing pages leaving only questions. Keller's finely honed prose and emotional depth mark this series as exceptional in the world of crime fiction.--Michele Leber
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Leber, Michele. "Fast Falls the Alight." Booklist, June 2017, p. 58. Gale General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A498582724/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=0a084b15. Accessed 11 Aug. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A498582724
Translate
Font Size
Listen
Main content
Sorrow Road. By Julia Keller. Aug. 2016. 384p. Minotaur, $25.99 (9781250089588).
In this fifth Bell Elkins novel (after Last Ragged Breath, 2015) from Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist Keller, two story lines--one happening in the 1930s, one unfolding in the present day--come together in a single gripping narrative. Bell, the prosecuting attorney in Ackers Gap, West Virginia, is asked by a law-school classmate to look into her fathers death in a nearby Alzheimer's care facility. The classmate then dies in a car crash. Two women are murdered together in a tremendously moving passage. Bell's daughter, Carla, has made a sudden, unexplained return home. And Bell's relationship with Clay Mackling is in suspended animation. All of these events turn out to be interrelated, with resolution coming only after much reckoning, for all involved, with the collective trauma of their pasts. There is not much you can teach Bell about shock and terror and the "wounds that never wash out." She grew up staring "into the face of an evil that seemed to drench the world in endless darkness." Her incredible resilience has allowed her to move on, but she is beginning to realize that others, especially Carla, have not been so fortunate. That sense of endless darkness is matched by the relentlessly bleak and treacherous Appalachian winter and by the poverty and despair of the people trapped within it. The setting and the tone will appeal to fans of both Sharyn McCrumb and Julia Spencer-Fleming, and the introspective protagonist and literary quality recommend it to followers of Tana French and Louise Penny. Another outstanding entry in a superb series. --Jane Murphy
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Murphy, Jane. "Sorrow Road." Booklist, 1 July 2016, p. 37. Gale General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A459888984/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=1df94d1b. Accessed 11 Aug. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A459888984
Sorrow Road
Julia Keller. Minotaur, $25.99 (384p) ISBN 978-1-250-08958-8
At the start of Keller's lukewarm fifth Bell Elkins novel (after 2015's Last Ragged Breath), the West Virginia prosecutor gets a glimpse of the road not taken when she meets law school classmate Darlene Strayer for a drink in a rundown bar. Though the women grew up in similar circumstances, Bell, "who had seemed destined for a glittering career in a big city," has ended up in an obscure small town, and misfit Darlene went on to become a celebrated federal prosecutor. But now Darlene needs Bell's help. Darlene's father, Harmon, died the week before, but despite his advanced years, she feels guilt about his passing. In recent months, Harmon was bothered about something he wouldn't disclose, and his daughter believes it was connected with his death. Darlene's fears seem more credible to Bell when Darlene ends up the victim of a car crash. Keller writes well, but a soap opera of a subplot involving Bell's daughter, who has returned home with a secret, distracts from the main narrative. Author tour. Agent: Lisa Gallagher, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. (Aug.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Sorrow Road." Publishers Weekly, 27 June 2016, p. 62. Gale General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A456900890/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=eb6f85da. Accessed 11 Aug. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A456900890
Keller, Julia SORROW ROAD Minotaur (Adult Fiction) $25.99 8, 23 ISBN: 978-1-250-08958-8
A deadly accident in 1938 West Virginia is the impetus for several modern murders.Bell Elkins ditched her ambitious husband and high-stress job to become the prosecutor in Raythune County, where she grew up in unhappy circumstances. Her high-powered law school classmate Darlene Strayer also grew up in Appalachia but then stayed away, returning only to visit her father and finally place him in the Alzheimer's unit of Thornapple Terrace in neighboring Muth County. Although Harmon Strayer was almost 90, Darlene has doubts that he and two other patients died naturally, and she asks Bell to look into their deaths. Bell asks her assistant, Rhonda Lovejoy, who has friends and relatives everywhere, to do some gentle probing. Bell's own life is in disarray. She's considering how to handle her love affair with a much younger man when her daughter Carla suddenly calls to say that she's coming home in the middle of a snowstorm. When Darlene is killed on her way home in the same snowstorm, Bell's suspicions are inflamed. Both Bell and Carla still suffer from traumatic incidents in their pasts that underlie their current problems. Carla's already lined up a job interviewing older members of the area for a library project, and Bell doesn't push her to discuss why she's suddenly come home. Impetuous Carla accidentally gets involved in the investigation, putting herself and others in danger. When a worker at Thornapple Terrace is murdered along with her best friend, Bell suspects another connection, though she doesn't yet know about the fraught relationship between Harmon and his two childhood friends or the secret they've kept for years. Although this isn't the best of Keller's deeply nuanced, beautifully written examinations of life and death in hardscrabble coal country (Last Ragged Breath, 2015, etc.), its exploration of the ravages of Alzheimer's is deeply moving.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Keller, Julia: SORROW ROAD." Kirkus Reviews, 15 June 2016. Gale General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A455212657/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=7b31ae25. Accessed 11 Aug. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A455212657
KELLER, Julia. The Dark Intercept. 320p. Tor Teen. Nov. 2017. Tr $17.99. ISBN 9780765387622.
Gr 7 Up--Violet Crowley lives on New Earth and works at Protocol Hall and when necessary, she initiates the use of the Intercept, which tracks the feelings of all citizens via an embedded chip. The Intercept has the power to use those feelings against them. Old Earth remains, in ruins and mostly abandoned, while a small population struggles to survive or escape. Meanwhile, a rebel faction seeks to eliminate the use of the Intercept, threatening the safety of New Earth. The story starts slow, warms up quickly, and then rushes to the conclusion. Readers will identify with the narrative's focus on emotions and the ways in which the Intercept tracks feelings and uses them to control the population. This plot point is well deployed and thoughtfully executed, while a series of last-minute plot twists and reveals challenge readers to finish the tale. Violet's character is well written, but the motivations and actions of the other characters are thinly drawn. Keller admirably establishes how Old and New Earth exist, but fails to expand on the larger political aspects or the personal history of the Crowley family. Despite these flaws in the story line, the ending packs an emotional punch and provides a satisfying wrap-up. VERDICT Readers will be hooked by the initial plot and able to overlook the flaws that plague the final third of the book. A good choice for most YA sci-fi shelves.--Amanda Foust, Consultant, Littleton, CO
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Foust, Amanda. "Keller, Julia. The Dark Intercept." School Library Journal, Oct. 2017, p. 100. Gale General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A507950794/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=ff4a3c50. Accessed 11 Aug. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A507950794
Keller, Julia. Sorrow Road. Minotaur: St. Martin's. (Bell Elkins, Bk. 5). Aug. 2016. 384p. ISBN 9781250089588. $25.99; ebk. ISBN 9781250089601. MYS
As a record-breaking snowstorm wreaks havoc on the remote town of Acker's Gap, WV, Bell Elkins (Last Ragged Breath) anxiously awaits the arrival of her 21-year-old daughter, Carla, who insists on driving treacherous roads to get home. On the professional side of her life, the prosecuting attorney is investigating the deaths of several residents in an Alzheimer's care facility after a former law school classmate asks her to check out the circumstances of her father's demise. Keller deftly knits together these suspenseful stories that are tied to the nature of memory and how it affects the past and the present. Keller has roots in West Virginia and excels in creating a vast yet intimate sense of place. Welcoming readers into this region inhabited by warmhearted people and where history runs deep is skillfully contrasted with severe economic problems and the crimes that can result.
Verdict Fans of Linda Castillo's Sworn to Silence, where another simple lifestyle abuts serious crime, will embrace this work. [See Prepub Alert, 2/29/16.]--Gloria Drake, Oswego PL. Dist., IL
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 Library Journals, LLC
http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/reviews/xpress/884170-289/xpress_reviews-first_look_at_new.html.csp
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Drake, Gloria. "Keller, Julia. Sorrow Road." Xpress Reviews, 5 Aug. 2016. Gale General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A460900916/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=67364606. Accessed 11 Aug. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A460900916