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Grant Jerkins

Forfatter af A Very Simple Crime

10+ Works 241 Members 14 Reviews

Værker af Grant Jerkins

A Very Simple Crime (2010) 96 eksemplarer
At the End of the Road (2011) 75 eksemplarer
The Ninth Step (2012) 36 eksemplarer
Done in One: A Novel (2015) 12 eksemplarer
Abnormal Man: A Novel (2015) 11 eksemplarer
Blight Digest (Winter 2015) (2015) 4 eksemplarer
The Ninth Step (2012) 3 eksemplarer
A Scholar of Pain (2018) 2 eksemplarer
Abnormal Man (2016) 1 eksemplar

Associated Works

Unloaded: Crime Writers Writing Without Guns (2016) — Bidragyder — 6 eksemplarer

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Markeret
fleshed | 6 andre anmeldelser | Jul 16, 2023 |
Whenever I think about no longer accepting review copies because they "get in the way" of my own reading list, I think of Grant Jerkins and immediately decide it's better to keep on receiving them. It was by saying yes to a review copy request that I read his first novel in 2010. Now, three books later, Grant Jerkins is one of my favorite writers.

The Ninth Step, Jerkins' third novel, was released last month by Berkley Prime Crime. It's a fantastic read. It will especially freak you out if you're in a twelve step program or have ever worked the steps. Yes, The ninth step of the title refers not to stairs, but to step nine of the big twelve: "Made direct amends to to such people whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others."

Edgar Woolrich is a happily married high school geometry teacher who collects Japanese puzzle boxes. Helen Patrice is a veterinarian and an alcoholic. When his obsession and her addiction cross paths the result is an intriguing story of who-done-what and who'll-do-what next. I love Jerkins' characters. Even though they are not always likeable, they have a realness and a warmth that makes them seem all so human. And in this case . . . oh, the humanity.

What I like about Jerkins' novels is that they're all so different from one another. I enjoy a good series, but it is also refreshing to read a good crime novelist who can create such solid stand alone novels that you're not left wishing the author had written a book more like the last one.

A Very Simple Crime (2010) was about a down on his luck prosecutor investigating a murder that takes him into the depths of a family's psychological abnormalities. At the End of the Road (2011) goes back in time to the summer of 1976 when a young boy witnesses an accident, tells no one, and what unfolds afterwards for the boy and others. I think of it as a coming of age novel with a creepy, dark core.

I don't want to say that The Ninth Step is his best yet, because that makes it sound like his two previous novels weren't up to snuff. They are. But what I especially admire about The Ninth Step is it's black humor. I often don't enjoy humor mixing with crime because it can seem too forced or too flip or too cruel. Jerkins uses humor in a way that acknowledges the pain of the human condition, but this humor also reveals that our pain is often the result of past choices, as well as showing the reality that we do have choices now, no matter how messed up things seem.

Here's an example from early on in the novel, about Helen:

The self-inspection did not reveal additional damage. Externally, Helen was still quite attractive--her breasts sagged only a little; her ass, while bigger than in the past, had not succumbed to gravity and was plump in a pleasingly feminine way; and the broken capillaries that formed a haphazard Etch A Sketch across her nose and cheeks were easily concealed with modest amounts of makeup. The shell, the facade, was fine. Unfortunately, she was rotting from the inside out. Like the shiny apple that concealed the corruption of the worm deep inside. It occurred to her hungover mind that she was the perfect hybrid of Doctor Dolittle and Dorian Gray (41).

I like this example because it tells you so much about Helen: about her age, her chronic drinking, how she deals with it, her sense of humor, her denial. Her checklist is on the light side, but it hints at the tragic darkness to come. It's avoidable, yet inevitable.

If you like suspense novels that focus on interpersonal relationships, check out The Ninth Step and Jerkins' early novels as well. They'll keep you in their grip and leave you thinking about the story and characters long afterwards.
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Markeret
Chris.Wolak | 1 anden anmeldelse | Oct 13, 2022 |
Fabulous suspense, coming of age novel with a creepy, dark core.

At the End of the Road is Grant Jerkins's second novel and there is nothing of the sophomore slump about it. Set in rural Georgia on the cusp of the coming suburban sprawl that's ready to explode out of Atlanta, At the End of the Road is the story of ten year old Kyle and how radically his life changes one day in 1976 after he causes a car accident and then doesn't help or get help for the injured driver. When Kyle returns to the scene of the accident, there's no trace of the driver or the car, which had rolled on its side.

A series of events unfold and Kyle's secrets build and turn into lies. He eventually starts to believe his lies, to some extent, and then they start to take a physical and deeply emotional toll on him and on his little sister Grace. At one point I started to wonder if Kyle wasn't right in the head, but then I recalled what it's like to be a ten year old with a big problem, one that you've never had before and know adults would freak out about and then who knows what will happen to you. You'd be beyond in trouble. And it is 1976. I'm not sure how well this novel would work set in 2011, in an America that is much more sophisticated about crime, technology, and communication. It would be doable, but it would certainly be a different novel.

Kyle lives on Eden Road. You can read this novel as just a good, well-written suspense story, or as an origin story for a life of drugs and alcohol addiction, or even, yes, as a retelling on the story of the Garden of Eden.

I was ten years old in 1976 and even though I grew up in an urban environment, I could relate to Kyle in many ways. I remember the popularity of Wonder Woman, shopping at Zayre, and the dangers of playing with matches and Drano. His childhood is pretty standard: siblings who either ignore him or become his best buddy, parents who aren't really paying attention to their kids because they're wrapped up in their own pain or routine, the casual violence of children running free, neighborhood bullies, and mean neighbors who construct believable social facades for the adults around them.

Except that in Kyle's neighborhood there's someone who is beyond mean.

I really enjoyed Grant Jerkins first novel, A Very Simple Crime, which came out last year. I was still a bookseller back then and regularly hand-sold copies of that book to mystery readers who were looking for something new. Most of them came back asking if I knew when Jenkins' next book would be out. Alas, the bookstore where I worked is no-more, but I hope those customers find At the End of the Road at their "new" bookstore or library because it's a really good read. It's been a long time since I gave a book a 5-star rating on Goodreads, but this one earned it for its smooth writing and understated storytelling.

If you're looking for something different, something that reads like a combination of Mark Twain, Stephen King, and a dash of Patricia Cornwell, At the End of the Road might be up your alley.
… (mere)
 
Markeret
Chris.Wolak | 6 andre anmeldelser | Oct 13, 2022 |
Enjoyed this book, and enjoy it more as it continues to play around in my mind. I recommend it to readers who like their mystery/thrillers to have a psychological edge and at little legal action. The writing is deceptively simple. Take my advice and pay attention to the details as you're reading. If the beginning is a little slow or hard to get into, stick with it. It's one of those thrillers that starts with some short chapters that leave you wondering what the heck is going on, but you quickly get drawn into the story and when you think you know what's going on that's when you really don't know what's going on.

A Very Simple Crime is the story of Adam Lee, a man who was orphaned at a young age and, along with his older brother Monty, is sent to live with his mother's sister's family. Adam is a man who seems to have skimmed along the surface of life, not living very deeply. His older brother Monty is one of the most successful criminal defense lawyers in the Atlanta area and a handsome womanizer who seems to have it all. Adam has worshiped Monty since the two brothers were boys.

Adam marries Rachel, a mentally disturbed woman who is the sole heir to her wealthy father's fortunes. They have a child, Albert, who is mentally handicapped. Adam gets a job in his father-in-law's firm and is initially a competent, proficient worker. During his son's childhood, however, he starts to throw himself into his work and is surprised that he becomes successful. Eventually it becomes obvious that Albert needs to be institutionalized after he hits his mother in the head with an ashtray, hard enough that she is hospitalized. Life goes one. At first Adam and Rachel visit Albert regularly, but then Rachel's own mental illness intensifies and the visits dwindle. Adam seems trapped in his sick marriage . . . and from there the plot takes off.

When Rachel is found dead and obviously murdered, is seems a simple conclusion can be drawn that Albert, the son, did it. He was home visiting his mother that weekend. But complications arise. Enter Leo Hewitt, a junior deputy prosecutor whose once stellar career is now in shambles after being blamed for releasing a suspected child murder who was later caught red-handed. Leo is prompted to dig into this new crime. The authorities were going to consider the murder an open and closed case. But Leo finds some damning evidence. Dark history between Adam and Monty comes to light. Did Adam do it? He's claimed all along that he loved his wife....

A Very Simple Crime is one of those crime novels where you're left pondering characters, scenes, and the entire plot. You'll find yourself flipping back through parts of the book and realizing that little things mentioned here and there turn out to be significant things later on.

If you're interested, read the book now, because the movie version is in pre-production.
… (mere)
 
Markeret
Chris.Wolak | 4 andre anmeldelser | Oct 13, 2022 |

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Værker
10
Also by
1
Medlemmer
241
Popularitet
#94,248
Vurdering
½ 3.4
Anmeldelser
14
ISBN
15

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