Beasts of the Earth Book Blog Tour, Review, and #Giveaway #LoneStarLit

Posted October 18, 2022 by Lynn in Blog Tours, Giveaways, Reviews / 2 Comments

BEASTS OF THE EARTH

BY
JAMES WADE
Categories: Literary Fiction / Crime Fiction
Date of Publication: October 11, 2022
Number of Pages: 350 pages
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James Wade, whose first two novels were praised as “rhapsodic” and “haunting,” delivers his most powerful work to date—a chilling parable about the impossible demands of hate and love, trauma and goodness, vividly set in the landscapes of Texas and Louisiana.

Beasts of the Earth tells the story of Harlen LeBlanc, a dependable if quiet employee of the Carter Hills High School’s grounds department, whose carefully maintained routine is overthrown by an act of violence. As the town searches for answers, LeBlanc strikes out on his own to exonerate a friend, while drawing the eyes of the law to himself and fending off unwelcome voices that call for a sterner form of justice.

Twenty years earlier, young Michael Fischer dreads the return of his father from prison. He spends his days stealing from trap lines in the Louisiana bayou to feed his fanatically religious mother and his cherished younger sister, Doreen. When his father eventually returns, an evil arrives in Michael’s life that sends him running from everything he has ever known. He is rescued by a dying poet and his lover, who extract from him a promise: to be a good man, whatever that may require.

Beasts of the Earth deftly intertwines these stories, exploring themes of time, fate, and free will, to produce a revelatory conclusion that is both beautiful and heartbreaking.

PRAISE FOR BEASTS OF THE EARTH

“Wade’s pitch-perfect, personality-driven dialogue sings in the voice of life, and his ability to meld existential thought, situational metaphor, and cinematic setting is a full-bodied experience…A soul-deep exploration of a wounded man in crisis, James Wade’s Beasts of the Earth…secures his position as an author of extraordinary merit.” —New York Journal of Books

“James Wade writes a terrific story, but that isn’t what makes him so good. Wade is a craftsman. His books should be read slowly, to luxuriate in his word choices, his sentence structure, his character revelation. That is why he is a joy to read.” —James L. Haley, Spur Award–winning author of the Bliven Putnam Naval Adventures

“I found myself rooting for the characters throughout their near-Biblical tribulations, and the storyline kept me turning the pages, desperate to find out what would happen next. Here we have a novel that blends realism with existentialist philosophy to redefine contemporary Southern fiction. Don’t miss this tour de force of modern literature.” —David Heska Wanbli Weiden, Spur and Anthony Award–winning author of Winter Counts

PURCHASE LINKS:
Beasts of the Earth is a beautiful gut-punch of a novel.” —Stacey Swann, author of Olympus, Texas

 

 

BEASTS OF THE EARTH unfolds in two different time lines, with two central narrators. The current setting, 1987, belongs to Harlan LeBlanc, grounds worker at a local school. The historic setting, 1965, belongs to Michael Fischer, an abused and neglected teen. Harlan is one of those character who mostly tries to blend in with the background, to be unobtrusive, do his job, follow his daily routine. Until a sloppy murder investigation leads Harlan to begin his own investigation. Michael’s story is too complex, emotional, and spoiler-y to sum up in a sentence. We’ll leave it at he runs away from home and finds safety and security, albeit temporarily. I found myself emotionally connecting to both Harlan and Michael very early on in the novel. Like Harlan, I, too, prefer routine. And Michael is the wounded animal that anyone would bring inside the house to care for.

 

While true, 20 years does separate these two storylines, Mr. Wade weaves these two disparate stories together in such a way that grips the reader. I had suspicions as to how the two stories might be connected, but I was completely off base. The unfolding and reveals were a big surprise for me for sure!

 

It was very easy for me to become absorbed in the reading of this novel. (Ok. Yes, I read this in one afternoon, thanks to no power\Hurricane Ian.) The descriptive passages are dynamic and packed with metaphors. From the swamps to a school bus full of teenagers, I felt immersed in the setting. Like this example:
He crawled across the dust-filmed floor and he spilled forth from the old house and onto the porch, and neither the sun nor LeBlanc would rise. He crawled down from the porch and crawled across the dirt like a beast of the earth.
Wow. Just wow. So powerful and visual, I can practically feel the dirt and grime. And bonus points for the title shout-out.

 

Vengeance, justice, and good and evil drive this literary crime novel. What truly makes a crime? Surely murder. But what if one murder is to punish another? By the end of the novel, I was questioning if vigilantism might truly be justice for those characters who got away with their crimes. I was also wondering what truly defines a ‘good’ character in a novel.

 

Mr. Wade’s books, including BEASTS OF THE EARTH, are not sunshine, happiness, and rainbows. (There is a dog in this one though!) These books are gritty and real. And honestly, these are subjects I normally avoid. But sometimes, it’s worth challenging yourself to read outside of your comfort zone. I don’t know that I’d say I enjoyed this book. But I can say it has certainly made such a considerable emotional impression. And I’d read the phone book if James Wade was writing it. Probably with some tissues at hand.

 

 

Thanks to author James Wade and Lone Star Book Blog Tours for providing this opportunity to review BEASTS OF THE EARTH. I received the novel free in exchange for my honest review.

 

James Wade lives and writes in the Texas Hill Country with his wife and daughter. He is also the author of River, Sing Out and All Things Left Wild, a winner of the prestigious MPIBA Reading the West Award for Debut Fiction, and a recipient of the Spur Award for Best Historical Novel from the Western Writers of America.

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FOR DIRECT LINKS TO EACH POST, UPDATED DAILY,
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Posted October 18, 2022 by Lynn in Blog Tours, Giveaways, Reviews / 2 Comments

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2 responses to “Beasts of the Earth Book Blog Tour, Review, and #Giveaway #LoneStarLit