Unlike Jim Thompson's experimental use of multiple points of view
covering the same criminal event from different eyes, author Rash
is using the device to further the linear plot and embellish his
characters. The problem is that all the characters are not that interesting,
and, once you've discovered the secret of the disposal of the body--your
curiosity sated--it is difficult to continue plodding along for pure
personality revelation. The prose of descriptions, rhythums, and
dialogues seem quite appropriate for Appalashian hill people, and
Rush adds plenty of colloquialisms like "no harder to find than a
lightening bug on a July night" (Picador, IBSN 0312423055, trade
paperback edition, c.2002, p.42) and "I couldn't outsmart a fish
with a brain the size of a butter bean" (p.131) for regional color.
A despair pervades the novel. A growing malady that it's
all for nothing, symbolized by the Carolina Power Company's impending
dam that will fill the valley like the similar disaster in Deliverance.
Seems that not much has changed when a way of life is deemed disposable
by the powers of "progress".
Dead at 150 pages out of 214.
