To catch a killer…
Maybe you’ve got to be one…
Acacia Pines, USA. Sheriff Cohen’s life is falling apart – his father accidentally burned down the retirement home, his wife has moved out, and his son is bullying other kids at school.
When high-school student, Lucas Connor, is abducted, Cohen sees a chance to get his life back on track – to win back his wife and scoop the reward money offered for Lucas’s safe return.
But as the body count rises, it becomes clear that Cohen’s going to have to make the kind of decision from which there’s no coming back … a decision with deadly consequences…
A furiously paced, edge-of-your-seat thriller exposing the dark underbelly of small-town life, His Favourite Graves is also a twisted and twisty story of father-and-son relationships, and the one last gamble of a desperate man to save everything…
I am thrilled to be hosting the blog tour for His Favourite Graves today. Huge thanks to Paul Cleave, Orenda Books and Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for inviting me and for my advance copy of the book.
His Favourite Graves is the third book I've read by Paul Cleave and it cements my view that he is one of the most original, exciting current writers of dark crime fiction. This is an ingeniously complex, shocking novel portraying a host of morally ambiguous characters and consequently I am mindful not to risk any spoilers. This really is one of those books which needs to be experienced without any prior expectations – other than to be prepared for a storyline which, despite featuring some truly disturbing scenes and the worst of humanity, is a wildly entertaining, irresistibly compulsive thriller from start to finish.
The opening immediately sets the tone with high-school student Lucas Connor's already bad day soon becoming much worse. The fictional American small town setting of Acacia Pines lends itself perfectly to what follows, with the complicated lives of its residents colliding in almost unimaginably horrific circumstances. Sheriff Cohen leads the search for Lucas but he has his own issues to deal with too and between his increasingly crushing financial worries, his uncommunicative, mean-spirited teenage son and his father's worsening Alzheimer's, it shouldn't be surprising that he sees this case as a possible salve for at least some of his problems.
Of course, things don't go to plan but for reasons I could never have predicted. I read a lot of crime fiction and it's not unusual for me to figure out some of the revelations before they come to light but that was certainly never going to happen here! This is not a mystery – we constantly have the perpetrators, their motivation and their plans revealed to us and yet the shocks keep coming. The addictively pacy, multilayered plot is artfully constructed to unsettle and surprise with each new curveball that changes everything that seems to be taking place.
Sheriff Cohen and Lucas Connor are particularly impressive characters and the fascinating exploration of their respective father and son relationships is superb. Cohen has to endure the most troubling aspects of both roles here, as son to a father cruelly diminished by his illness and as a father who increasingly comes to question his parenting skills and the choices he knows he should make as the novel progresses. Meanwhile, Lucas's terrifying ordeal is perhaps even more tragic considering his alcoholic father and absent mother. The characterisation is outstanding throughout though and in a novel which includes acts of extreme brutality and torture, it's to Paul Cleave's credit that he ensures his cast remains believable and that we are able to understand the reasoning behind the behaviour of even the worst of them. For all their obvious and undeniable failings, these are, for the most part, people shaped by their often harrowing experiences. Not everyone is as tainted by this apparently toxic town, however, and the steadfast kindness of carer Deborah and the frank integrity of Cohen's deputy, Hutch provides a welcome contrast to the darkness which seems to pervade so much of Acacia Pines.
The descriptions of the setting throughout His Favourite Graves are exceptional; each location is vividly realised and Paul Cleave uses the isolation of small town America to stunning effect. The inherent horror of abandoned properties builds upon the oppressive sense of danger while the inclement weather adds further colour to the intensely dramatic scenes as the novel draws towards its exciting, nightmarishly chaotic conclusion.
Despite the horrendous, cruel deeds perpetrated throughout His Favourite Graves, the writing is never gratuitous, with readers often left to use their own imaginations regarding the most depraved and distressing acts. This is a novel which explores the darkest of topics but it isn't a heavy read and the more outlandish elements of this deliciously noirish plot are decidedly Fargo-esque. Packed with twists, turns and shocks, His Favourite Graves is a breathtakingly compelling thrill-ride and one of the most memorable books I've read this year. Very highly recommended indeed.
Very highly recommended indeed.
His Favourite Graves is published by Orenda Books and can be purchased from their website. Further purchasing links can be found here.
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Thanks for the blog tour support x
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