Robert Gwaltney recommends
Hollow Out the Dark (2024)
James Wade
"In Hollow Out the Dark, James Wade's latest Southern-gothic feat, Wade stitches a propulsive tale with Biblical thread, fueling it with whiskey, tucking secrets beneath the floorboards, and draping the Depression-era landscape with suspense. Wade builds himself a well-deserved seat, pulling it to the literary table to sit alongside the likes of Ron Rash, Faulkner, and Cormac McCarthy."
The Arsenic Eater's Wife (2024)
Tonya Mitchell
"Tonya Mitchell's The Arsenic Eater's Wife renders a dark and intricately brushed portrait of the dichotomous business of human nature. Set against the scintillating murk of 19th Century Liverpool England, Mitchell's novel simmers good, and hot, and glorious with atmosphere, arsenic, intrigue, and lies."
The Deception (2022)
Kim Taylor Blakemore
"A sinuous tale of deception amidst the fascinating backdrop of post-Civil War Spiritualism, The Deception seethes from the very first sentence all the way through to its riveting conclusion. Blakemore, a modern day Bronte, gleams in dark, moldering, claustrophobic places."
