Days of Atonement - Hardcover

Williams, Walter Jon

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312851189 ISBN 13: 9780312851187

Publisher: Tor Books, 1991

Synopsis

The small mining town of Atocha, NM, is having trouble coping with the 21st Century—Atocha is a place where the old values of family loyalty still hold sway, and where Loren Hawn, the chief of police, can usually solve a crime by knowing everyone and all their secrets.

But Atocha is about to be dragged kicking and screaming into the future, as high-energy physics meets small-town politics. Out on the edge of town there’s a new advanced technology lab, where government scientists are experimenting with the nature of space and time. And on the floor of the police station there’s a body—a man full of bullet holes, who stumbled in and died in Police Chief Loren Hawn’s arms. Loren’s problem is that the man on his floor had already been dead for twenty years; he was killed in a car crash at the turn of the century.

Solving this case is going to upset the delicate balance of silence and accommodation that keeps a town like Atocha going. Loren Hawn is going to have to break the bonds of a lifetime’s way of thinking.

About this title

Reviews

Williams's ( Angel Station ) flawed futuristic thriller is set at the beginning of the next century, during the "days of atonement" observed by the Church of the Apostles, a period of contemplation, each day devoted to one of the seven deadly sins. Loren Hawn, police chief of Atocha, N.M., is driven by overwhelming rage, religious fervor and the desire to "guard his marriage, his daughters, his community"; he styles himself "the sword and arm of the Lord." Then an experiment at the nearby Advanced Technology Laboratories leaves a body on Loren's doorstep--apparently that of a man who died 20 years ago. As Loren investigates the "John Doe"--is his appearance some sort of miracle?--he gradually comes to believe that he has been betrayed by all he cherished--his family, his town, his church. Ironically, he is right--ATL is involved in a crime--but Loren is over the edge. He is ultimately overtaken by rage and driven to a frenzy of murder and destruction. Although not completely successful in his portrayal of Loren's disintegrating personality, Williams does present a credible exploration of a near-future community.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The police chief of Atocha, New Mexico finds himself in trouble from all sides when his investigation of an impossible murder forces him to cross wills with a nearby research institute conducting secret experiments involving space and time. The author of Hardwired ( LJ 6/15/86) brings his gift for hardcore realism to this near-future tale of one man's confrontation with the unknown. For most sf collections.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Tor Books
• Publication date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0312851189
• ISBN 13: 9780312851187
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 437