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Tim Johnston

Author of Descent

10+ Works 1,335 Members 136 Reviews 2 Favorited

About the Author

Tim Johnston was born in Iowa City. He attended and graduated from the University of Iowa and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He was the 2011 Jeny McKean Moore Writer -in Residence at the George Washington University. His stories have appeared in California Quarterly, Double Take, Best show more Life Magazine, The Iowa Review and Narrative Magazine. Irish Girl won an O. Henry Prize, the New Letters Award for Writers. The collection won the 2009 Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction. His other works include Two Years and Never So Green. In 2015 his title, Descent made The New York Times Best Seller List. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Includes the name: Tim Johnston,

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Works by Tim Johnston

Associated Works

Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules (2005) — Contributor — 1,211 copies
The Algonquin Reader: Fall 2014 — Contributor — 2 copies
Submitted For Your Approval (2015) — Contributor — 2 copies

Tagged

Common Knowledge

Birthdate
alive
Gender
male
Nationality
USA
Birthplace
Iowa City, Iowa, USA
Places of residence
Iowa City, Iowa, USA

Members

Reviews

I thought about giving this one two stars since I did finish the book but I disliked the journey so much I'm giving it one star. I think this was a good concept for a book but I disliked just about everything in the execution.

I was in the mood for a good plot driven novel and when I saw an online ad for this one it seemed like a perfect fit: female runner goes missing and what happens next. I should have known from the start that I was in for a bumpy ride because I was immediately uncomfortable with the way the characters were referred to as "the boy" and "the girl" from the start. The characters have names...use them!

The concept of what happens to a family after one of them goes missing is a really interesting one. The tension it brings to a marriage, the feelings of guilt for all those involved, the pain of wondering where the missing person is and is she alive or dead. The Descent tries to tackle that but it is in such a disjointed way that I never felt any compassion for these people. In some cases, like with the Mother figure, I couldn't even follow what was happening in some chapters towards the end. There was also a heavy presence of cigarettes in the book. I felt like there was so much discussion about the characters smoking that it would eventually have some bearing on the plot but it never did.

The introduction of a bad guy to the story felt heavy handed and what happened next veered into territory that just made me want to throw the book across the room. The action ratchets up a lot in the last quarter of the book but in a way that felt both thrown together and generally ridiculous.

Do not recommend.


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hmonkeyreads | 109 other reviews | Jan 25, 2024 |
I've enjoyed all of Tim Johnston's books and for me this was his best book yet. It's going to be a hard book to review because I don't want to give away any spoilers for other readers. What I can and will tell you is that this is a book full of twists and turns that will keep you turning the pages PLUS it has a wonderfully well developed main character who keeps the reader even more invested in the story and the ultimate ending.

Sean Courtland's old Chevy truck broke down outside of a small town in Wisconsin. A good Samaritan stropped and suggested a repair shop, gave him a ride into town and when he found out that Sean was a carpenter told him about an old guy in town who needed some work done. In quick succession, he gets the job, ends up in a bar fight defending a girl that he didn't even know who was being harassed which causes him to become known to the local police. He picks up a hitchhiker a few days later and when he finds out that Dan is a plumber, he asks him to help finish up the repair job that he's doing. They quickly get noticed by the people in town who are still haunted by the disappearance of three young boys years before.

Both Sean and Dan have secrets from their past and no real homes - instead they both travel around and work when they need a little money. Their work for an old man who the townspeople believe had something to do with the boy's disappearance all those years ago, brings new light to the cold case.

This book could have been very confusing -- there were a lot of different characters plus its told in two time lines but everything fit together perfectly and pointed toward the ending. Sean is definitely the 'star' of the novel - a nice guy who liked helping people but seems to attract trouble even if he isn't looking for trouble. He's quiet but always thinking and rationalizing situations. He's one of my favorite characters that I've read in a long time.
If you enjoy a good mystery, well written characters and small town ambience, this is a book that you don't want to miss. It isn't a book that you want to speed through -- but want to read slowly and savor the writing and the character development. It's a definite must read!
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susan0316 | Nov 2, 2023 |
You may think you know what's going on, but you might be wrong! Great read, but I don't want to say too much. Give this one a try.
 
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Maryjane75 | 109 other reviews | Sep 30, 2023 |
This book is some brilliant ideas executed quite poorly. In trying to be a literary thriller, Descent really succeeds at neither genre. Nonetheless, in this failure, which is his debut novel, Johnston brings some rather unique ideas.

The bad news first: this is yet another abduction/serial sexual predator novel. Why is this even a thing that exists? Also, stranger abduction practically never happens in real life, which makes the profusion of novels on the topic extra strange. But further, this novel doesn't really spend much time on the abduction. I came to the novel having seen it compared to [b:Gone Girl|19288043|Gone Girl|Gillian Flynn|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1397056917s/19288043.jpg|13306276], so I thought it was a mystery and tried to read it as such -- paying attention to all the details. Unfortunately, that way lies utter madness: there simply is no conclusion to the vast majority of storylines. Why is Grant missing two fingers? Who was the alleged rapist that grabbed a ride with Sean and whatever happened to him? Why was Sean also called Dudley? What happened to Angela after Faith died and was the story she told the real story of the drowning? None of these questions have clear answers, except maybe the first (he was drunk, the end.) and the last (yes, apparently, as billed.) Even the idea of this novel as an exploration of a family after tragedy falls flat as Angela's story gets dropped completely after only two chapters, and Grant and Sean's stories don't really come together until they settle in with the Kinneys. Finally, as many reviewers have already noted: you can either feature multiple timelines or multiple narrators, but not both, especially when you refer to your protagonists only by gender 95% of the time.

The good news: there are so many cool ideas here. Johnston really wanted to look at the shockwaves of tragedy and the idea of vignettes of separate coping mechanisms had potential. I loved the idea to make it seem like the story of the "every-man" by referring only to characters as "the girl" or "the boy" and this was one of the most successful themes as it carried through also into Caitlyn's dissociative episodes in which she was watching someone else narrate her story. Johnston is also very into the idea of good luck, bad luck and religion as a result of experiencing bad luck, and this came through strongly, if heavy handedly, with nice parallelism with the story of Angela and Faith as well as the Kenney brothers.

Overall, a fairly weak and not very enjoyable novel, but an ambitious one. I will definitely consider reading his second effort.
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settingshadow | 109 other reviews | Aug 19, 2023 |

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Rating
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