Critic Reviews
Great
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A collection of riveting, funny, and captivating southern fried crime stories from Eryk Pruitt, one of the best new crime fiction writers working today. Townies, and Other Tales of Southern Mischief collects, for the first time, Pruitt's short fiction in a single volume.
The title story, "Townies," details what really happened one night, after hours, in a once popular East Texas sports bar, and the sinister revenge that would soon follow.
"Knacker," the story of a Texan who finds himself homeless in Dublin, Ireland, and willing to sacrifice damn near anything to scratch together what remaining pride he may have lost.
"Let's Be Awful" tells the story of a cocktail waitress who decides that, after a horrid round of revenge porn, her days of playing the victim have past.
In "A Lot Prettier (When You Smile)," we are introduced to a woman who can wrap any man around her finger and decides to put that powerful skill to use one last time.
When a black sheep son comes home to his sick momma's deathbed in "The Only Hell My Momma Ever Raised," he discovers long lost family secrets, as well as how he can use his own set of skills to give her a proper send off.
When Old Man McCarthy turns up dead in the bottoms of "Blood Holler," a cursory investigation turns up an unlikely suspect, which barely scratches the surface of the true implications of the brutal crime.
These and other stories will have you turning the pages to read more of one of the most unique voices in southern fiction.
Writes books. Edits books. Drinks enough to kill himself. Something else would kill him anyway. Real good at self-justification.
Got home from walking Misha and started thinking about the Eryk Pruitt story, Townies, from the collection of the same name, and how nice it is when someone writes a story that stays with you. Now, if only @reverenderyk had a new novel. What? Something Bad Wrong? When?
"Hardboiled honey packed with razor blades and dynamite, strange and leanly written, and tossed into a tornado; WHAT WE RECKON is the insane love child of James Cain and Jim Thompson, a modern piece of folk lore covered in gasoline and set on fire. This baby rocks like a motel bed during a cheap honeymoon. You need it." --Joe R. Lansdale, author of HAP & LEONARD and HONKY TONK SAMURAI
"Pruitt delivers an excellent addition to the gritty Southern noir genre. Readers of Hunter S. Thompson and David Joy will enjoy the psychedelic twists and turns as well as the rapid-fire dialog."-- Library Journal(Starred Review)
"Assured prose carries the reader along to the shattering and enigmatic ending." --Publishers Weekly
"I'd tell you to remember the name Eryk Pruitt, but after you read WHAT WE RECKON, it'll be impossible to forget. This is Southern noir prepared just the way you like it: Boiled hard, gritty as hell, and aimed straight at your heart." --Rob Hart, author of THE WOMAN FROM PRAGUE and NEW YORKED