Different should not be confused with interesting. The story is about a bare hand fighter, a crazy drug load, hillbilly pot, arms shipments migrant work crews, a religious hermit..... I could go on but won't. There is way to much detail, about things that this reader just didn't care about, while the characters themselves were boring, and flat. The author can clearly write, but he should try short stories and a long form with an interesting plot, and well developed characters, two things this book doesn't have. ( )

This describes so well (!), but, unfortunately, it failed to impress me. The story involves a large cast of characters, including a washed-up boxer, an old truck driver, a crooked sheriff, two high-level arms dealers, a religious recluse, and a sociopathic drug-lord who rules over a large compound deep in the West Virginia mountains. The chapters constantly shift focus among the various characters, until their paths eventually meet. I often enjoy this format in novels, but in this case, I found it jarring and irritating, partly because so many characters are being explored, but none of them are examined in depth.

The actual story lacks a wow factor too. There's much crime and some action, but no real suspense that I could detect. Despite exploring some crazy, interesting stuff, it's actually a bit dull and the writing is often wooden. While it seems like most of the parts are present to create a good story (particularly a well-drawn setting and some fascinating character types), it fails to come together in the end. This isn't absolutely awful, but I don't necessarily recommend it either. And it sounded so good when I read the description! ( )

Took a while for me to get into this - the many characters were a little too seemingly disconnected. But by the book's end I'd really quite enjoyed it. The writing is excellent, Benedict certainly knows how to set it all up, and the dialogue is all too real. A very violent story. ( )

Engaging story. Characters were strong and fatally flawed, and the story was great. And it set a gritty drug-running adventure/thriller in the hills of West Virginia, which is original and kinda neat. Why this is not a movie yet, I'll never know. I know the story was optioned . . . but never heard more. Loved it. ( )

Dark, brutal, relentless and, ultimately, ingenious. There is no mercy in this hard-to-define novel -- the bad guys all die and the good guys all suffer the torments of hell. One of the best books I have ever read, by one of the best authors I have ever encountered. ( )