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2016 Anthony Award for Best First Novel (nominee)
2016 Barry Award for Best First Novel (nominee)
2016 ITW Award for Best First Novel
2015 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller (nominee)
Winner of the ITW Thriller Award for Best First Novel
From a remarkable voice in Southern fiction comes a multigenerational saga of crime, family, and vengeance.
Clayton Burroughs comes from a long line of outlaws. For generations, the Burroughs clan has made its home on Bull Mountain in North Georgia, running shine, pot, and meth over six state lines, virtually untouched by the rule of law. To distance himself from his family’s criminal empire, Clayton took the job of sheriff in a neighboring community to keep what peace he can. But when a federal agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms shows up at Clayton’s office with a plan to shut down the mountain, his hidden agenda will pit brother against brother, test loyalties, and could lead Clayton down a path to self-destruction.
In a sweeping narrative spanning decades and told from alternating points of view, the novel brilliantly evokes the atmosphere of the mountain and its inhabitants: forbidding, loyal, gritty, and ruthless. A story of family—the lengths men will go to protect it, honor it, or in some cases destroy it—Bull Mountain is an incredibly assured debut that heralds a major new talent in fiction.
‘Panowich stamps words on the page as if they’ve been blasted from the barrel of a shotgun, and as with a shotgun blast, no one is safe from the scattered fragments of history that impale the people of Bull Mountain.’—Wiley Cash, New York Times-bestselling author of This Dark Road to Mercy
Genre: Mystery
From a remarkable voice in Southern fiction comes a multigenerational saga of crime, family, and vengeance.
Clayton Burroughs comes from a long line of outlaws. For generations, the Burroughs clan has made its home on Bull Mountain in North Georgia, running shine, pot, and meth over six state lines, virtually untouched by the rule of law. To distance himself from his family’s criminal empire, Clayton took the job of sheriff in a neighboring community to keep what peace he can. But when a federal agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms shows up at Clayton’s office with a plan to shut down the mountain, his hidden agenda will pit brother against brother, test loyalties, and could lead Clayton down a path to self-destruction.
In a sweeping narrative spanning decades and told from alternating points of view, the novel brilliantly evokes the atmosphere of the mountain and its inhabitants: forbidding, loyal, gritty, and ruthless. A story of family—the lengths men will go to protect it, honor it, or in some cases destroy it—Bull Mountain is an incredibly assured debut that heralds a major new talent in fiction.
‘Panowich stamps words on the page as if they’ve been blasted from the barrel of a shotgun, and as with a shotgun blast, no one is safe from the scattered fragments of history that impale the people of Bull Mountain.’—Wiley Cash, New York Times-bestselling author of This Dark Road to Mercy
Genre: Mystery
Praise for this book
"Brian Panowich had me at the first word of his spectacular debut novel, 'Family, ' and he held me until the very last page. Bull Mountain is a sprawling, gritty, violent, tribal inter-generational crime epic with a deeply rooted sense of place and an gut-punch ending I didn t see coming. Expect to see Bull Mountain on the short-list of many 'Best First Novel' awards." - C J Box
"Panowich stamps words on the page as if they've been blasted from the barrel of a shotgun. Wonderfully rich and evocative." - Wiley Cash
"Bull Mountain is a stunningly polished debut novel. Panowich s tale of family, of land, of crimes large and small, of right and wrong, is so vivid that the reader can almost see the blood in the soil and smell the violence on the wind." - Reed Farrel Coleman
"The gripping, witty Bull Mountain is not only a fine debut, but a fine mystery novel, period. Panowich may even have carved out his own subgenre of hillbilly noir. I can't wait to see what he comes up with next." - John Connolly
"Bull Mountain is a stone gas and a stone winner! It s brother-versus-brother in the dope-damned South. This first novel has it all: moonshine, maryjane and mayhem! Read this book now and succumb to a startling new talent." - James Ellroy
"Holy cow, what a book! It moves like a bullet. Mr. Panowich knows his mountains, his whiskey, his dope and his meth. And boy, does he know his characters, who are drawn sovividly I can't forget them. I can't recommend this novel enough it will thrill fans of Daniel Woodrell and Larry Brown as well as fans of Dennis Lehane and William Gay. First rate, first rate!" - Tom Franklin
"The resurgence of American heartland noir gets a strong new prose soldier with Brian Panowich's debut novel Bull Mountain, a tense, multi-generational tale of life on the hard side, a cops vs. bad guys story with subtly interwoven family sagas, romance and redemption. Panowich is a rising author to watch." - James Grady
"With echoes of Faulkner'sSanctuary and McCarthy'sNo Country for Old Men, Brian Panowich's debut novel is Cain and Abel for a sticky South. Strong as bootleg whiskey, smooth as the action of a well-oiled pistol, Bull Mountain is a beautiful, harrowing debut and so much fun, it ought to be against the law." - Aaron Gwyn
"Dug into the landscape like a grave, Bull Mountain is a novel that resonates with a stirring combinationofgrace and brutality, of beauty and loss. In the Burroughs family, Brian Panowichcreates a clan with all the fire and depth of Faulkner s Henry Sutpen storming through a Steve Earle song." - Steve Weddle
"Panowich stamps words on the page as if they've been blasted from the barrel of a shotgun. Wonderfully rich and evocative." - Wiley Cash
"Bull Mountain is a stunningly polished debut novel. Panowich s tale of family, of land, of crimes large and small, of right and wrong, is so vivid that the reader can almost see the blood in the soil and smell the violence on the wind." - Reed Farrel Coleman
"The gripping, witty Bull Mountain is not only a fine debut, but a fine mystery novel, period. Panowich may even have carved out his own subgenre of hillbilly noir. I can't wait to see what he comes up with next." - John Connolly
"Bull Mountain is a stone gas and a stone winner! It s brother-versus-brother in the dope-damned South. This first novel has it all: moonshine, maryjane and mayhem! Read this book now and succumb to a startling new talent." - James Ellroy
"Holy cow, what a book! It moves like a bullet. Mr. Panowich knows his mountains, his whiskey, his dope and his meth. And boy, does he know his characters, who are drawn sovividly I can't forget them. I can't recommend this novel enough it will thrill fans of Daniel Woodrell and Larry Brown as well as fans of Dennis Lehane and William Gay. First rate, first rate!" - Tom Franklin
"The resurgence of American heartland noir gets a strong new prose soldier with Brian Panowich's debut novel Bull Mountain, a tense, multi-generational tale of life on the hard side, a cops vs. bad guys story with subtly interwoven family sagas, romance and redemption. Panowich is a rising author to watch." - James Grady
"With echoes of Faulkner'sSanctuary and McCarthy'sNo Country for Old Men, Brian Panowich's debut novel is Cain and Abel for a sticky South. Strong as bootleg whiskey, smooth as the action of a well-oiled pistol, Bull Mountain is a beautiful, harrowing debut and so much fun, it ought to be against the law." - Aaron Gwyn
"Dug into the landscape like a grave, Bull Mountain is a novel that resonates with a stirring combinationofgrace and brutality, of beauty and loss. In the Burroughs family, Brian Panowichcreates a clan with all the fire and depth of Faulkner s Henry Sutpen storming through a Steve Earle song." - Steve Weddle
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