This is the second novel to feature Frank Johnson (following The Dirty-Brown Derby, 2006), nd it definitely lives up to the buzz the author has been generating among genre enthusiasts. Soon he is hot on the trail of a cult called the Blue Cheer, and stopping their murderous plans means putting his own neck right in the line of fire. He thinks it ought to be a simple matter to find out why the missile was in the skies over West Virginia, but when he is beaten up, and then his best friend’s wife is murdered, Frank quickly realizes he has caught the tail of a monster. *Starred Review* PI Frank Johnson, who moved to rural West Virginia in search of peace and quiet, stumbles on his noisiest case yet when a Stinger missile explodes in the air over his property. Despite a somewhat predictable resolution, the first-rate writing will leave readers eager to see more of Johnson.”– Publishers Weekly When the pair pursue the mystery with the local sheriff, a cascade of violence overwhelms the quiet community-murders that may be connected with a shadowy local racist cult known as the Blue Cheer. Johnson witnesses what appears to be a Stinger missile strike against an unmanned aerial drone hovering above his yard, and he calls on his closest local companion, Old Man Maddox, a retired CIA agent. Johnson has sought to still the memories of a deadly encounter with the Ku Klux Klan by retreating to the Appalachian town of Scarab, where people-and friends-are few and far between. “Set in the remote mountains of West Virginia, this gritty contemporary detective novel, Lynskey’s second to feature former PI Frank Johnson (after 2006’s The Dirt-Brown Derby), will remind many of such masters of hard-boiled prose as Loren Estleman.

“A worthy heir to some of the pulp’s best ‘eyes’.” “A lovely & gritty, contemporary noir story.” “Stylistically ambitious w/nice narrative touches & observations.”

Troglodytes by Ed Lynskey