A taut, gripping thriller, it also draws us deep into the lives of its troubled characters with wit, compassion, and insight ... The same knack for propulsion, characterization, and snappy dialogue that made Chris Offutt a natural for Hollywood are on ample display in The Killing Hills. The sentences and chapters are crisp and crackling, the mood and tone dark and ominous but not devoid of humor. Put simply, the man knows how to keep the pages turning ... The result is a novel that, like fine Kentucky bourbon, goes down easy and leaves a long, lingering burn.
With its deftly plotted short chapters, fast-moving story line, minimal characterizations and strong regional atmosphere, Chris Offutt’s new novel, his third, more resembles a high-quality TV crime series set in rural America than a work of literary fiction ... Offutt’s deeper concern would seem to be for the region itself, a 'hillbilly elegy' distinctly his own for the paradoxical mixture of geographical beauty and economic distress that has characterized portrayals of Appalachia for decades, where 'deaths of despair' have become commonplace. The velocity of The Killing Hills doesn’t allow for much exposition or nuance, but this theme is struck emphatically ... Is this comedy? Caricature? Reportage? It’s difficult to write about marginalized regions of America without sounding inadvertently condescending, or, worse, contemptuous; Offutt, who has identified himself as 'a country boy who’s clawed his way out of the hills of eastern Kentucky, one of the steepest social climbs in America,' navigates this sensitive terrain with skill and a measure of respect for his subject ... Surprisingly, The Killing Hills spends very little time on the first murder victim, and as other bodies — about whose lives the reader knows virtually nothing — pile up, the novel begins to thin, like landscape seen from a rapidly moving vehicle, or like a screenplay that will 'come alive' in another medium ... In this case, genre has hobbled the natural gifts Offutt has displayed in his thoughtful, nuanced and provocative memoirs ... Shackling this narrative to the crime/mystery genre is like shackling a mule to substitute for a porch post: Perhaps it can be done, but why?
... part thriller, part bittersweet tribute to author Chris Offutt’s Appalachian roots. The curious mix of elegiac prose, violence and quirky humor delivers a vibrant yarn that keeps readers engaged right up until the last uplifting page ... [a] slim but compelling work of literary suspense.
... has all the marks of a classic thriller, but its murder plot is secondary to the Appalachian setting ... One of Offutt’s strengths is his familiarity with the area’s folkways, flora and people, a trait he shares with Mick and has demonstrated in his previous fiction, memoirs and work as a writer on television dramas ... A rural noir with attitude to spare, The Killing Hills moves as briskly as a well-constructed miniseries, right down to its unanswered questions that carry the hopeful possibility of a sequel.
Offutt superbly blends classic country noir and character study, finding both great sadness and understated humor lurking in the give-and-take of his remarkable, dueling-banjos dialogue.
Offutt...has a reflective voice and a spare use of language. Hardin is an unforgettable character trapped between his army life and the 'eye-for-an-eye' culture of rural Kentucky. Readers of James Anderson will appreciate this thoughtful mystery with a strong sense of place.
... another fine example of what might be called holler noir ... It hits the genre's marks: a Chapter 1 corpse, a hard-drinking knight errant of a detective, etc. Ultimately, though, Offutt's primary emphasis—and the book's—falls less on the title's central word than on its final one. The star is rural Kentucky ... The book's triumph is that Offutt understands the difference between local color—which would be mere decoration—and local knowledge ... The murder plot ends up being nearly secondary, but that's not to the novel's disadvantage: In place of plot convolutions, Offutt offers those of Appalachian folkways. The result is a fast-paced, satisfying read. Rural crime fiction that kicks like a mule.
... [a] brooding and bloody country noir ... The lean prose elicits more than a hard-boiled style, and while the brisk yet gnarled atmosphere is reminiscent of Winter's Bone, the dime-store crime novels of Jim Thompson, or even William Faulkner's Sanctuary, Offutt brilliantly evokes the body and soul of his wounded hero. It adds up to a mesmerizing and nightmarish view of what lurks just over the hills. This is sure to be Offutt's breakout.
