... outstanding ... Denny’s inherent decency in a world of corruption and mendacity forces the reader into difficult emotional territory. You’d cross the street to get away from Denny Rattler… if you didn’t know him. And if you did know him? You’d feed him a Swanson chicken dinner and do his laundry ... a crime novel, surely – and a damn good one – but it’s also a snapshot of small-town America at a fracture point, when the least of the concerns is the fire that could consume everyone, all at once.
... a brutal, pitiless story, told in the third person, yet full of tenderness and beautiful, lyrical writing, and is my personal reading highlight of the year so far ... a timely, poignant masterpiece. When These Mountains Burn is the kind of book that readers will return to again and again. There is so much to discover in his writing full as it is of beautifully constructed sentences and insightful characterisation.
Stories about drug addiction and the emotional toll it exacts on both the addict and their family members are inherently tragic. But in the hands of a master storyteller, they can be unforgettably powerful as well. Such is the case with David Joy’s When These Mountains Burn ... The novel moves at a brisk pace as it alternates points of view between Raymond and Denny. But what stands out here isn’t the story—harrowing though it is, this tale has been told before—but rather Joy’s unflinching and gritty depiction of his fully realized characters, from their raw loss to their helplessness and rage to their final acceptance. Joy has thoroughly captured their experiences in vivid, memorable prose that burns to be read.
Desperation and revenge lead these principals on a collision course the reader can see coming, but will eagerly turn to every chapter to find out what’s next. Joy portrays his characters with unflinching realism. Creative turns of phrase and clever colloquialisms move the story forward and keep the otherwise disheartening subject matter full of thrilling surprises. As Southern noir-tinged fiction gains a well-deserved audience, Joy is one voice that never disappoints.
...a fierce and tender tale ... David Joy is a well-known author quickly becoming a super-star author. His work straddles the line between noir and literary fiction with admirable confidence ... The setting and subject-matter reminded me of J. Todd Scott’s recent Lost River. They are both dark Appalachian addiction stories. However, Scott’s writing style is more clipped, and Joy’s more florid ... This was a good book ... If you are after a beautifully written dark addiction story—this is your best bet.
It’s a familiar scene—straight-and-narrow father bails out his tragically flawed son—but the focus is on the complex and harrowing history the two men share in a region with a complex and harrowing history all its own ... Despite the presence of a few hissable villains, drug kingpins and corrupt cops among them, Joy makes the flaws of Raymond’s approach readily apparent—including a scene displaying the unpleasant collateral damage it results in. It’s Denny who emerges as the book’s most complex character and the one who drives the plot toward its satisfying conclusion ... With memorable characters, deft plotting, and an attention to detail, Joy has written a powerful work of crime fiction.
... an engrossing drama of violence and vengeance ... Joy’s razor-sharp prose details disturbing, graphic images of brutality that begin when Raymond resolves to protect his son. The threads of the story intertwine after Ricky gets hurt and Ronald connects the dots. As the fire spreads, the characters offer emotional reflections on the loss of their mountain culture, already being 'sold off for tourists dollars' at the time of the fire. Joy handles everything with ease, proving himself to be one hell of a writer.
