Review – When These Mountains Burn by David Joy

Posted December 4, 2020 by Carole in 2020 New Release Challenge, Book Reviews / 6 Comments

When These Mountains Burn by David Joy
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Publication Date: August 18, 2020
Date Read: December 2, 2020
Length: 272 pages
Source: Edelweiss
★★★★★

Acclaimed author and “remarkably gifted storyteller” (The Charlotte Observer) David Joy returns with a fierce and tender tale of a father, an addict, a lawman, and the explosive events that come to unite them.

When his addict son gets in deep with his dealer, it takes everything Raymond Mathis has to bail him out of trouble one last time. Frustrated by the slow pace and limitations of the law, Raymond decides to take matters into his own hands.

After a workplace accident left him out of a job and in pain, Denny Rattler has spent years chasing his next high. He supports his habit through careful theft, following strict rules that keep him under the radar and out of jail. But when faced with opportunities too easy to resist, Denny makes two choices that change everything.

For months, the DEA has been chasing the drug supply in the mountains to no avail, when a lead—just one word—sets one agent on a path to crack the case wide open…but he’ll need help from the most unexpected quarter.

As chance brings together these men from different sides of a relentless epidemic, each may come to find that his opportunity for redemption lies with the others.

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My Review

I loved this book! Last year, I read David Joy’s previous novel, The Line That Held Us, and was blown away and knew that I needed to read more of this amazing author’s work. Well, I finally had the chance to sit down and read his newest book and found it to be equally impressive. This was one of those books that I did not want to put down once I picked it up and felt moved by the story.

This book deals with the difficult topic of drug abuse. I found the descriptions to be incredibly vivid and sometimes eye-opening. Several different perspectives come together to tell this tale of desperation. From an addict, we see the uncontrollable need for the next high and how the entire focus on his life has become centered on doing whatever necessary to get the drugs he needs. From the parent of an addict, we see how much they want to help and their frustration with how little they are able to actually do. We get to see law enforcement take steps to cut off the supply and how slowly the system move.

This book is set in the mountains of North Carolina and I really felt those mountains come to life in this story. The characters were very well-developed and the descriptions were incredibly vivid. The writing was beautiful despite the rather harsh reality of the story. I was really drawn into the story and wondered how things would eventually work out for these characters that I had grown to care about.

I would highly recommend this book to others. I found this to be a beautifully written tale of desperation and the need to take steps towards change. I am now considering myself to be a card-carrying member of the David Joy fan club (is there such a thing?) and will definitely be planning to read more of his work in the future.

I received a digital review copy of this book from G.P. Putnam’s Sons via Edelweiss.

About the Author

David Joy is the author of The Line That Held Us (winner of the 2018 SIBA Book Prize), The Weight of This World, and Where All Light Tends to Go (Edgar finalist for Best First Novel). His stories and creative nonfiction have appeared in a number of publications, and he is the author of the memoir Growing Gills: A Fly Fisherman’s Journey and a co-editor for Gather at the River: Twenty-Five Authors on Fishing. Joy lives in Tuckasegee, North Carolina.

Author Links: Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter