Novel set in Pennsylvania – US Rural Noir

• Book: Dry Bones in the Valley
• Location: Pennsylvania
• Author: Tom Bouman

Review Author: tripfiction

A thriller set in fictional Wild Thyme, a remote township in rural North East Pennsylvania, Dry Bones in the Valley is a stunning debut novel from Tom Bouman who lives in the area, and whose intimate knowldege of both it and its ways is very clear. It is a well worked and very dark detective novel with more than its fair share of of blood and brutality.

The ‘hero’ is the local policeman, Henry Farrell, who fits flawlessly into the stereotype of the troubled loner. He is a widower who fought with the US in Somalia, and bears some of the scars. He married out West, his wife died poisoned by the effects of gas exploration and fracking – and he moved to rural Pennsylvania for an easy and peaceful life. But his peace is shattered. He is untiring and relentless (one could say obsessive) in his investigation into the murder of both a ‘John Doe’ (whose body is revealed high up on a ridge as winter snows retreat in the countryside) and of his own deputy – clubbed and gunned down in the early stages of the investigation. The ‘John Doe’ is discovered on the land of an old, and quite possibly mad, recluse who becomes the initial suspect.

The story is a complex one set amongst the somewhat strange and seemingly inbred families of the area. Wild Thyme is a community bitterly divided by the arrival of fracking and gas exploration – the great wealth it could bring, and the great changes to lifestyles that have spanned generations that could also materialise (the subject, of course, brings back memories for Farrell). Small bundles of land need to be tied together to be of a large enough size to sell to the developers – and there are tensions amongst adjoining landowners as they work out who is prepared to deal with whom (and who is prepared to shaft whom…). The nasty side of the community is very much to the fore. And it’s not just gas exploration and fracking that are moving East. With them (and the money they bring) come drug dealers and other undesirables. Dry Bones in the Valley is a very rough and a very tough novel set in idyllic countryside. Local families morph from existing as subsistence level farmers to being part of a much bigger plot. Poverty is displaced by some of the ‘advantages’ of new found wealth.

Much of the book is set in the woodlands and ridges of Wild Thyme, as Farrell tracks down the killer. Bouman’s obvious knowledge and love of the countryside and its ways makes for the painting of a very convincing picture of life in the area – from some somewhat macabre details of deer hunting to how to remain hidden and unobserved in pursuit of your quarry. It is a story well observed and beautifully told.

I do not imagine that it is Bouman’s intention for this to be the only Henry Farrell detective novel. In Farrell, he has created a character who people will want to see more of. He is complex, driven (don’t think he sleeps throughout the book…), damaged – and actually pretty believable.

This review first appeared on our blog, together with our author interview

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