Deep Winter: a Novel - Hardcover

Gailey, Samuel W.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0399165967 ISBN 13: 9780399165962

Publisher: Blue Rider Press, 2014

Synopsis

For fans of Alice Sebold and Scott Smith, a dark, gripping debut novel of literary suspense that The New York Times and critics describe as "beautifully written, suspenseful and fast-paced."

In the small town of Wyalusing, a woman is found brutally murdered one winter night. Next to the body is Danny Bedford, a misunderstood man who suffered a tragic brain injury that left him with limited mental capabilities. Despite his simple life, his intimidating size has caused his neighbors to ostracize him out of fear of what he may do. So when the local bully-turned-deputy discovers Danny with the body, it's obvious that Danny's physical strength has finally become deadly. But in the long, freezing night that follows, the murder is only the first in a series of crimes that viciously upset the town order--an unstoppable chain of violence that appears to make Danny's guilt undeniable. With the threat of an approaching blizzard, the local sheriff and a state trooper work through the predawn hours to restore some semblance of order to Wyalusing. As they investigate one unspeakable incident after another, they discover an intricate web of lies revealing that not everything is quite what it seems.

With echoes of Scott Smith's A Simple Plan and Tana French's In the Woods, Samuel W. Gailey's Deep Winter is a richly atmospheric and ingeniously plotted debut, surprising to the final page. It's impossible to escape this bone-chilling story of deception, where the truth is uncertain and something sinister lurks just below the surface. . . 

About this title

About the Author

Samuel W. Gailey has written for 20th Century Fox, Showtime and Documentary magazine. He lives in southern California with his daughter and wife, author Ayn Carrillo Gailey.

Reviews

This is a harsh, brutal novel, as bleak as its wintertime setting. It’s also so brilliantly done, so artfully underwritten with not a word wasted, that readers may hate themselves for letting this grim narrative trap them in its coils. Danny, a big, slow-witted pudding of a man, comes across the naked body of the only woman who has ever been nice to him. Everyone believes Danny killed her, but we know who did: a mean drunk who is actually the town’s deputy sheriff. We saw it happen, in nine pages of can’t-look-away viciousness. The deputy knows how to play on the townspeople’s gullibility, and he organizes a posse to hunt the simpleton. Interesting turn: one of the trackers is the sheriff, who’s been lazily using the deputy’s cruelty to keep the locals in line. The old man’s guilt, plus his spotting of a detail that shouldn’t be there, begins the exposure of the deception. But not before Wild Turkey has been drunk, shotguns have gone off, and innocents blasted to pieces, all in crystalline prose. --Don Crinklaw

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Danny clutched a small wooden, hand-carved robin figurine in his large left hand. His hands were bigger than most—football player sized. But Danny didn’t play football or any other games that involved a ball because he wasn’t any good at stuff like that.

You’re too goddamn slow and too goddamn clumsy, Uncle Brett always said.

Danny’s long fingers wrapped tightly around the wood bird, cutting into his soft, sweaty palm hard enough to leave little crescent moon dimples. He gazed down at the figurine, turned it over a few times, touching the beak, the wings, the tail feathers, then placed it beside Mindy’s head, careful not to get any of her blood on the bird.

“Made this special for your birthday. Hope you like it.”

Mindy didn’t reply. She didn’t thank him for the special gift. She didn’t do anything but lay there in a growing puddle of her own blood.

Edition details

• Publisher: Blue Rider Press
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0399165967
• ISBN 13: 9780399165962
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304