Cypress Grove

Rating:
Summary: Convict Cop with a Future
Review: Departing from his well-received series featuring New Orleans African-American PI Lew Griffin ("Ghost of a Flea," "The Long-Legged Fly"), Sallis introduces Turner (no first name), a Vietnam-vet, cop, ex-con and psychotherapist, who has chucked them all for an isolated cabin outside a backwater Tennessee town.

He might be content to molder there, but the sheriff comes calling with a bottle of bourbon and a cry for help on a bizarre murder case - a homeless man with a stake driven through his chest and the mayor's mail in his pocket. Sure, Turner was a city homicide cop, but why would any self-respecting lawman seek out a man we already know spent 11 years in prison?

It's a question that will have to wait. Sallis develops his story in parallel; the present investigation proceeds between alternating chapters exploring Turner's past. It's a history of abrupt starts and stops, of daring and competence, of tragedy and darkness, intelligence and pain. But in the present Turner moves cautiously into engagement with the people he meets, particularly the easy-going sheriff and another newcomer, a banjo-playing female attorney with the state cops.

Sallis' atmospheric, poetic prose delineates the complexities of human relationships, often between the lines. Though his characters build from loss, this story is less dark than previous novels, but his sense of place is as deeply orienting as ever. There's suspense on both sides of the story, but Turner, without apparent effort or desire, takes command of center stage. A fine novel.

Rating:
Summary: Moving, lyrical and fascinating
Review: James Sallis unfolds Cypress Grove like reverse origami, showing the reader only one tantalizing piece at a time. In this beautifully-written book, two mysteries are gradually described: the present-time, ostensible mystery (a ritualistic murder of a homeless man in a small town) and the mystery of the detective himself, Turner, and how he came to be where and who he is. The former we simply watch in fascination, as we might a complex clockwork. The latter we are drawn inexorably into. We spiral down with Turner through the unavoidable tragedies of his life, only to emerge somewhat unexpectedly into the hopeful light of the ending. This is possibly Sallis' most openly optimistic book, but it loses none of his trademark style, seamlessly blending the hard-boiled with the sublime.

Rating:
Summary: well constructed tale
Review: Turner has not had an easy life. Fresh off the plane from Vietnam, with images of atrocities churning in his head, he signs up to become a Memphis police officer. His was not a sterling career but he ended it spectacularly when he killed his partner and was sentenced to three years in jail. Two months before he was to get out, he killed a man in self-defense and was sentenced to another twenty-five years.

After spending more than a dozen years in prison, always looking over his shoulder for the next attack, he finally got out and set up practice as a psychotherapist. When he got tired of the rat race he moved to a small Tennessee town, fully intending to live a solitary life. His isolation doesn't last long before the local sheriff consults with him on a homicide case. Unable to refuse, Turner gets sucked into an investigation where small time politics and a movie fan's desire to meet his idol collides, killing a mentally impaired innocent who wouldn't hurt a grasshopper.

CYPRESS GROVE is really two stories that form a whole tale. In alternating chapters, readers get to see how a small town murder unfolds and why Turner ended up in the town where the homicide occurs. By only using the surname Turner and not revealing the location of the town, James Sallis dehumanizes the man and town so that readers are forced to use their imagination to fill in the blanks. The mystery is well constructed and believable but it is Turner's story that touches the heart of the reader.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: well constructed tale
Review: Turner has not had an easy life. Fresh off the plane from Vietnam, with images of atrocities churning in his head, he signs up to become a Memphis police officer. His was not a sterling career but he ended it spectacularly when he killed his partner and was sentenced to three years in jail. Two months before he was to get out, he killed a man in self-defense and was sentenced to another twenty-five years.

After spending more than a dozen years in prison, always looking over his shoulder for the next attack, he finally got out and set up practice as a psychotherapist. When he got tired of the rat race he moved to a small Tennessee town, fully intending to live a solitary life. His isolation doesn't last long before the local sheriff consults with him on a homicide case. Unable to refuse, Turner gets sucked into an investigation where small time politics and a movie fan's desire to meet his idol collides, killing a mentally impaired innocent who wouldn't hurt a grasshopper.

CYPRESS GROVE is really two stories that form a whole tale. In alternating chapters, readers get to see how a small town murder unfolds and why Turner ended up in the town where the homicide occurs. By only using the surname Turner and not revealing the location of the town, James Sallis dehumanizes the man and town so that readers are forced to use their imagination to fill in the blanks. The mystery is well constructed and believable but it is Turner's story that touches the heart of the reader.

Harriet Klausner