Branches [Hardcover]

Mitch Cullin (Author), Ryuzo Kikushima (Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A smalltown West Texas sheriff is the antihero of Cullin's quietly chilling short novel in verse. Pacing the desolate, burnt-out ruins of his boyhood home 22 miles from town, Sheriff Branches (a minor character in Cullin's previous novel, Whompyjawed), catalogues his misdeeds and probes his conscience. On the surface, he is a solid family man, devoted to his wife, Mary, and looking forward to a cozy evening at home eating beef burritos and watching America's Funniest Home Videos. But as Cullin reveals almost immediately, Branches has killed his stepson, Danny, pushing the teenager down a well on the deserted property and emptying his Colt Trooper MK III after him. At the bottom of the well, the decaying corpses of two Mexicans already bear witness to Branches's homicidal instincts. Danny, a budding neo-Nazi, may have committed a crime of sorts. But Branches's other victims--and their numbers multiply--are guilty of little more than crossing the sheriff's path. Nevertheless, Branches remains a remarkably sympathetic character, the balladlike strains of his narration counteracting the grisliness of his actions. Cullin is adept at blending the affable and the sinister, and while this hybrid effort is just a simple song in a minor key, as such it succeeds admirably. Film rights to William Finnegan. (Mar.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The novel-in-verse boomlet continues with this short-lined monologue that is rather a hybrid of Stephen King and Jim Thompson. Cullin's Sheriff Branches resembles King's Delores Claiborne in that, like her, he tells his own story, and he has shoved a family member, ornery teenaged stepson Danny, into a deep, abandoned well (a fate Danny doesn't deserve). Branches also recalls Thompson's Sheriff Lou Ford in The Killer Inside Me (1952), for under the cover of his badge, he has committed a few more indelicacies--murders and rapes, that would be--that he imparts to us in the course of his spiel. Verse rather than prose seems an ideal solution to the belief-suspension problem inherent in the book's confessional mode, especially since Cullin is a less sensational writer than King or Thompson, capable of making his creepy protagonist resemble a Browning monologist--that is, if Browning would ever have chosen to limn the psychology of a King-Thompson lowlife. Eerie, smeary photos by Ryuzo Kikushima illustrate appropriately. Ray Olson

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 197 pages
• Publisher: Permanent Pr Pub Co; First Edition edition (April 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1579620612
• ISBN-13: 978-1579620615
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,110,905 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well, how was your day, Sheriff?, May 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Branches (Hardcover)

Clearly a one sitting read, this versified monologue careens between present and past with abandon, leading the reader through the bizarre mind and adventures of a lawman of the new West. The style of writing is riveting, with fascinating contrasts between the sometimes revolting episodes and the beauty of language and landscape. While quite different from Cullin's first novel, Whompyjawed (a more peaceful delight), this short exploration of misused authority is captivating and chilling, and continues the author's insights into the foibles of the characters of West Texas.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wild ride, July 11, 2003

By 

David Dirks (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Branches (Hardcover)

Branches is one of those books that haunts you long after you have read it. Besides being a great yarn, it contains many things to ponder, particularly, what can go wrong between a father and a son, and where does responsibility lie? I loved this book so much that I picked up the option to produce it as an independent feature film. Turning a book into a film is a very collaborative effort, so if you have read the book and would like to be involved, please let me know. Either way, please read this book. It is not only entertaining, but I guarantee it will make you think in many ways about life's rich pagaent.