Attention lovers of Southern noir, Grit Lit, or simply the pulse-pounding, twist-a-minute thriller: a master of the form is back with an edge-of-your-seat read. Rod Davis's East of Texas, West of Hell starts at full speed and never slows down. With a plot as complex and ultimately illuminating as the existential mysteries that Davis explores, East of Texas, West of Hell delivers not just a gripping story peopled with jump-off-the-page characters, but a heartfelt meditation on life, justice, and the murky areas in between.--Sarah Bird "award-winning author of Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen"
Davis's Jack Prine returns (after South, America) in this crime powerhouse--a maelstrom of meth-dealing, human trafficking, and white supremacy. The hardscrabble prose sets the perfect tone, and the characters are reliably complex. Davis is a great guide through gritty Southern territory.-- "Publishers Weekly"
Davis's East of Texas is wild and sexy, his West of Hell harsh and lawless, but both needles in the compass remind us of the sort of invisible reality one single place can construct in perfect symbiosis.--Dr. Rubén Olague, former CNN correspondent and Vice President for News at LBI Media
In East of Texas, West of Hell, Rod Davis crafts a story that begs you to look away but keeps you glued fast to the page with machete-sharp prose. Fans of South, America will relish the return of Davis's workmanlike, capable storytelling, while new readers will go clamoring for his every published word. Easily the best page-turner of the year.--Eryk Pruitt "author of What We Reckon"
In East of Texas, West of Hell, Rod Davis goes assuredly into a landscape of crime fiction mapped by writers like Elmore Leonard and Ross MacDonald, but his own tough guy sleuth, Jack Prine, is an original. Prine is a compelling and entertaining narrator, an aging polymath well versed in violence but also Shakespeare and Buddhism. Brought to life in Davis's beautifully spare prose, he is hard to put down in more ways than one.--Sean Mitchell "former reporter and critic for the Los Angeles Times and editor of Dallas's first alternative weekly, The Iconoclast"
In his long career as a journalist and author, Rod Davis has always been a master of place. In East of Texas, West of Hell, his craft is again on display, painting deep, tactile pictures of oil patch motels, sticky riverfronts, and gleaming Southern cities. This skill marries beautifully with Davis's particular style of noir, at once languid and propulsive. He expertly sets a mood while fully defining the cast of wayward souls we meet along the way. This deepens the thrill of Jack Prine's journey through his beloved South on a self-described 'doomed rescue mission and righteous killing spree.' This is Davis's greatest work to date.--Eric Celeste "longtime city columnist and contributing editor, Dallas's D Magazine"
In the pages of East of Texas, West of Hell, accomplished novelist Rod Davis deftly exposes the dark underbelly and underground economies of God's country in a compelling story that fully engages the reader's attention from one unexpected cliff-hanger of a plot twist after another.-- "Wisconsin Bookwatch"
Jack Prine is on the road again, which is bad news for the bad guys he's hunting. Rod Davis's riveting new novel would best be read with Warren Zevon turned up loud. Send lawyers, guns, and money--and maybe a voodoo priest and a coroner. East of Texas, West of Hell should come wrapped in crime-scene tape, or its own body bag.--Mark McDonald, award-winning journalist "author of Off the X"
Readers who enjoyed Rod Davis's South, America will fall into this sequel and find more than just vicarious thrills. East of Texas, West of Hell brings into focus the bigger questions of righteousness found on the roads leading out of perdition.-- "Houston Chronicle"
Rod Davis is the real deal, a storyteller of immense talent. East of Texas, West of Hell has it all: gripping characters, a page-turning plot, and a whole lot more. Don't miss this book.--Harry Hunsicker, former executive vice president of the Mystery Writers of America "author of The Devil's Country"
Rod Davis's lead character Jack Prine takes us on a wild ride across the South from Savannah to the ranches of West Texas, following the blood-spattered trails of criminals, conmen, lowlifes, fascists, and other troublemakers to save lives and right wrongs. A telling so fiery you can see the steam rising from the pages.--Joe Nick Patoski "author of Willie Nelson: An Epic Life and Austin to ATX"