Cypress Grove [Hardcover]

James Sallis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2003

The latest novel from the American crime master James Sallis, author of the acclaimed Lew Griffin series, including, most recently, Ghost of a Flea. 'James Sallis is an outstanding crime writer - an outstanding writer period' - Frances McDormand 'He's right up there, one of the best of the best' - Ian Rankin, The Guardian 'Classic American crime of the highest order' - Time Out 'James Sallis is a superb writer' - The Times

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Turner, a homicide cop from Memphis, has retired to a cabin outside a small town in the South, but crime comes knocking in this tightly written, low-key thriller. The rural sheriff, Lonnie Bates, introduces himself over a bottle of Wild Turkey and asks for assistance in a murder case that clearly is out of his league. A drifter has been found wired up on latticework, arms ritualistically crossed above his head, a long stake driven through his heart. As he joins in the investigation, Turner meets and likes more and more of the locals, remembering how he came to this place after an on-job shooting and follow-up stint in prison. Alternating chapters build his backstory, with brilliant, disturbing vignettes of police work and scenes of surviving as an ex-cop behind bars that stand with the best in the genre. The prose, unlike other more poetic writing from the versatile Sallis, is easily accessible: "We came in from the north, onto deserted streets. Pop. 1280, a sign said. Passed Jay's Dinner with its scatter of cars and trucks outside, drugstore and hardware store gone dark, A&P, Dollar Store, Baptist church, Gulf station." With his highly regarded six-novel series about New Orleans detective Lew Griffin (The Long-Legged Fly, etc.) behind him, Sallis seems completely comfortable in this solid, lyrical and very human-scale mystery. Fans who appreciate his more quirky touches won't be disappointed, as he brings in an unexpected cult cinema angle. This one may well draw a larger readership to his work.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

His Lew Griffin series behind him, Sallis turns to a new hero. On the run from his past, which includes stints as cop, convict, and psychotherapist, Turner has settled in the deep country outside Cypress Grove, Tennessee, looking only for solitude. Then the local sheriff shows up bearing a bottle of Wild Turkey and a plea for help: murder has come to Cypress Grove, and the sheriff needs the expertise of a mean-street-hardened investigator. Turner allows himself to be drawn into the case--a bizarre ritual killing--and follows the trail to a cult filmmaker whose unreleased final film includes a death scene that appears to have been the killer's inspiration. Jumping between the main story and a series of flashbacks detailing Turner's tortured past, Sallis combines an intensely introspective hero with a detail-rich plot (the foray into B-films is especially fascinating). Sallis' prose tends to walk a thin line between lyrical and mannered, sometimes falling one way, sometimes another, but this time he remains in balance throughout. A strong series debut from one of the genre's most original voices. Bill Ott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Turnaround (September 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1842430734
• ISBN-13: 978-1842430736
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,493,294 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Moving, lyrical and fascinating, June 3, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Cypress Grove (Hardcover)

James Sallis unfolds Cypress Grove like reverse origami, showing the reader only one tantalizing piece at a time. In this beautifully-written book, two mysteries are gradually described: the present-time, ostensible mystery (a ritualistic murder of a homeless man in a small town) and the mystery of the detective himself, Turner, and how he came to be where and who he is. The former we simply watch in fascination, as we might a complex clockwork. The latter we are drawn inexorably into. We spiral down with Turner through the unavoidable tragedies of his life, only to emerge somewhat unexpectedly into the hopeful light of the ending. This is possibly Sallis' most openly optimistic book, but it loses none of his trademark style, seamlessly blending the hard-boiled with the sublime.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A master storyteller struts his stuff, January 24, 2006

By 

Jerry Saperstein (Evanston, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Cypress Grove (Hardcover)

James Sallis tells stories. Wonderful stories. Rich in character, complex in plot and ultimately satisfying.

In "Cypress Groves," we first meet Turner, a man who quickly reveals in his own thoughts his past: unwilling, but competent soldier; a Memphis cop who helped until a fateful day; then a convict; next a therapist and finally a man sitting on the porch of his cabin in the rural nowhere.

Lonnie Bates pulls up one day in his jeep bearing a bottle of Wild Turkey. Sallis's mastery of storytelling and dialog is wonderfully demonstrated as Bates moves slowly to the real business at hand: enlisting Turner's in solving a local homicide.

The characters are meticulously drawn. Flashbacks illuminate Turner's life, a device many authors mangle, but not Sallis. We meet Don Lee, deputy to Sheriff Bates. Val Bjorn, a lawyer for the state. The Mayor. The local, curmudgeonly doctor who doubles as coroner. Sallis beings this rustic locale to life with the small wrongs villagers bring to the sheriff's attention. This is not pulse-pounding adventure: you feel the slow pace of a small town where not much happens other than people being born, living out their lives and than dying. In this case, the victim, not a local, unknown meets a particularly gruesome untimely end.

Bit by bit, Turner uncovers the facts. At heart a mystery, Sallis turns it into a brilliant tapestry of lives lived and unlived.

The plot never misses a beat. No need for leaps of faith with Sallis: every tiny bit falls into place in due time, including a surprising ending that had its beginnings decades earlier and thousands of miles away.

Save this one for a quiet night or two of reading, preferably with the lights turned down low and maybe some good music in the background. Sallis's storytelling is something to be savored slowly, like a fine wine.

Jerry

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars trying to get lost, February 25, 2008

By 

Grateful Gramma (Southwest Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cypress Grove (Paperback)

Ex-cop, ex-con, ex-therapist Turner thinks he's hidden himself away in an isolated cabin in a rural area of Tennessee. He appears to have succeeded, until Lonnie Bates, the local sheriff, arrives on his doorstep.

Now you would suppose that the sheriff wants to check up on Turner, maybe to warn him to walk the straight and narrow. But, no, the sheriff comes to ask his help in solving an unusual and ritualistic murder.

Back and forth we go through the pieces of Turner's life, building a picture of his past, while he puts together the pieces of the crime. In the process, we watch as he becomes re-engaged with life and other people.

Recommended.