Mark Timlin is a British author best known for his series of novels featuring Nick Sharman, a former Metropolitan Police officer who takes up the profession of private investigator in South London. He is also a renowned book reviewer and literary commentator. His most recent work is REAP THE WHIRLWIND. In his early years he did various jobs including work as a member of the road crew for THE WHO, including working backstage at Woodstock in the 1960s on the lighting cranes
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James Lee Burke fans, listen up. Blackwood is right up your bayou. If it was a 331/3 rpm slab of black vinyl, it would be Best of Louisiana’s Cajun Classics, or maybe Gris Gris by Doctor John the Night Tripper. If it was a firearm, it would be a nickel-plated Colt .45 automatic with pearl handled grips. It rocks!
A tired old Cadillac limps into a Mississippi town of Red Bluff. Inside are the meanest, nastiest, most brutish pair of characters you’re likely to meet in fiction, and the third, a young boy. What is not clear is whether he’s good or bad. The trio had dumped a baby boy outside a charity donation shop on their journey like you might drop off an empty cigarette packet.
Another newcomer in town a few days later is Colburn Evans, an artist of sorts, in any old metal he can scrounge. He’s presented with a workspace by the town council, and then he meets Celia, a red headed siren who owns a run-down bar. Already we know it’s not going to end well for any of them.
Then there’s Meyer, local lawman. Watch out for him.
The town is dying, forever tainted by the suicide of Colburn’s father. But there’s worse to come as a new tragedy strikes the place.
Blackwood is full of loss, loneliness and death, laced with beautiful prose, unforgettable descriptions of the flora and fauna of the lush delta. And characters who wander off the page and into your imagination like ghosts or half remembered dreams. I loved this book. Read it in great chunks, then was sorry when it was finished. It is probably the saddest book I’ve ever read. Desperation Road was an unappreciated, stone classic and this one is even better. Don’t miss it, or you’ll miss a treat.
