A gritty tale about bootlegging in 1950s North Carolina. The main characters in this fantastic, atmospheric story are pipe smoking 'healer' Granny May and her grandson, Rory, seriously scarred both physically and mentally by his time in Korea. There is also a dark murder mystery running, in flashbacks mostly, throughout the book. This involves Bonni, mother to Rory and Granny May's daughter, who has been left mute and institutionalised for two decades following a horrific attack that left a young man dead.

I really enjoyed this book, which has a very cinematic feel throughout and fantastic characters, some of whom are not all they first appear to be. Rarely have I read a character as fantastic as Granny May. What a woman!

A totally engrossing read with a very satisfying ending.

It's the 1950's in Howl Mountain,North Carolina. Rory is back from the Korean War, minus one leg, but alive. Living with his grandmother up on the mountain, making a living running shine and trying to evade the government men and the competition.

His mother is in a mental institution and hasn't spoken a word since she was sentenced there. Only she knows what really happened to put her there. There are many stories and secrets that everyone would just like to see stay buried. And Granny is one of those. 

How far will things go before she may have to take action?

This is the first of Brown's books that I have read, but not the last. Great Job!

NetGalley/St.Martin's Press March 20, 2018

A raw, thrilling and ultimate fulfilling portrayal of one man and his amazing community cut off from the outside world and yet constantly working to influence it.

Great story set in the North Carolina Mountains in the 1950s. The setting is depicted authentically and the story has a mystery at its heart. What beautiful writing! Every chapter composed elegantly like a short story in itself! The author takes you to the place of moon shine and snake handlers.

When it comes to protagonists, Taylor Brown has changed that paradigm in his novel Gods of Howl Mountain. Rory Docherty is a wounded Korean veteran, back home to bootleg liquor, clash with local factions, evade the law, and appease all his family. He is a gritty car guy who knows the long history of the mountain and the mill town at the bottom of the valley. While Rory is a cut-throat stock car racer and bootlegger, he also knows the mountain and people. A novel as much about place and time as it is story and conflict.

Rory has returned with a missing leg. Living with his grandmother, in the mountains, they live among the herbal remedies and folklore that haunts the misty mountains. When Rory falls in love with the daughter of a snake-handling preacher, their world is pulled apart by violence, rivalries, love, and ghosts from the past.

Thinking that some evil has invaded Rory's heart, Granny May keeps her shotgun close and her distrust closer. She is mystical in her mountain herbal remedies and her shotgun judgments of the world. Her life as a matriarch and medicine woman draws people to her who want different cures for what ails their lives in town. She also is the link between Rory and the mother he never knew.

Taylor Brown's prose is as mystical and lyrical as the ghosts high in the mountains. It is not always a beautiful place, but the mountain, the people, and the hard lives all resonant with a profound beauty that shifts from grace and wisdom to deceit and violence. Brown has masterfully crafted this world, grounding in the reader a sense of place and time in America, now long gone.

4 sassy southern stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟

This book was true southern grit lit (I didn’t even know that was a thing, but it sure does describe this book perfectly)... I really do enjoy southern Fiction.... the south seems to be very rich with fascinating history.....

This was a character driven novel and I absolutely adored the characters in this book.... Granny May was the best! if I lived in the appellations in the 50s I’d want to be just like her.... without her past.... OK maybe I wouldn’t want to be just like her, but she sure was an amazing and interesting character.... she told you how it was and was not politically correct in how she told you... she also dabbled in herbal healing which I found extremely interesting.... and which also made her neighbors believe she could possibly be a witch..... Rory her grandson who she raised because his mother had a breakdown of sorts was also an interesting character..... Home from the Korean war with scars both on the inside and out.... Rory believed if he found the answers to all of his questions he will find closure, but some answers lead to even more questions.....

The pace of this book was a bit slow and I also found it a little wordy.... there was a lot going on moonshiners, stock car races, snake handling, love interest, secrets, family feud, etc. I think it all tied up neatly and nicely at the end..... however I spent a lot of the book a bit overwhelmed with everything that was going on....

There are a lot of amazing reviews for this book and I really wish I loved it as much as others.... but for the reasons stated above I didn’t, I really liked it I just did not love it.... I would recommend if you are a fan of southern fiction, historical fiction, and very descriptive writing with some fun quirky characters thrown in....

*** i’d like to thank the publisher and Net Galley for a copy of this book ***

There is something visceral that is felt when reading this deftly-written story set amidst the deep mountains during a period in history when such places were well and truly hidden. Where "Above it all the sea of night, the strange ornamentation of stars..." dazzle readers and draw them into the lush setting that is Howl Mountain.

The setting and even the name Howl Mountain is perfect for this mesmerizing, secret-rich tale that will have readers believing in the possibility that supernatural powers exist. 

The characters are so believable that it is impossible not to find yourself invested in their lives and their world. You will wish you could travel back in time to stop some of the hardships that have befallen, as well as those that are heading towards this family.

The riotous and abundant surroundings of the mountain landscape will have you longing for a life lived in this wonderous setting as well as wishing to go back to this harsh, yet simpler time in American history.

Granny May embodies a time when 'wise-women' were both revered as well as feared. Her knowledge of local herbs and lore allows her to eke out a living during a time when people had little or no money to spare. The Dictionary definition of a wisewoman is: "a woman considered to be knowledgeable in matters such as herbal healing, magic charms, or other traditional lore." Wisewomen were often feared for their knowledge and were sometimes branded as witches and persecuted by those who feared them. Fortunately for Granny Mae, she knows how to take care of herself.

Rory Docherty is Granny May's grandson. He is a veteran who left for the Korean war as a boy and returned as a man (minus a leg). He used the money he earned in the war to buy a 1940 Ford Coupe. He and a buddy added all kinds of special extras and made some serious modifications to it in order to make it the perfect Moonshine-Runner's vehicle. This car was a mean looking piece of

Rory was raised by Granny May since his mother has been committed to an insane asylum and has not spoken a single word in over twenty years.

As Rory makes his regular whiskey drop-offs, he meets the stunningly gorgeous daughter of a fire-and-brimstone-snake-handling Preacher and falls in love at first sight.

It is this one meeting that changes the course of Rory's life and the lives of everyone around him.

The question is, will the mountain release any of its closely held secrets? Will the families involved be able to continue on as they always have? What about Granny May? Will she survive the evil that is steadily stalking her? Or will she succumb to it in the end?

This is one book that you will wish would never end. From the way that Taylor Brown describes the mountain landscape, it is evident that he has a deep and abiding affection for nature.

If you have not yet had the privilege of reading any of Taylor Brown's books, now is your chance and it is one not to be missed.

I rate this amazing book as 5 out of 5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

3.5 Stars* (rounded down)

It was a time of whiskey runs, bootlegging and herbal medicines and potions used to aid those in need. On Howl Mountain, the living was hard. Granny May Docherty all but lost her daughter years ago in a horrible incident. Now her daughter lives is in a hospital, mute and unresponsive. Granny May has done what she had to do to survive and though most everyone judges her for it - most use her services for something or other. Rory Docherty came home from the Korean War a changed man. Hardened, Remote and an Amputee. If he thought life was hard before, he was wrong.

In the “Gods of Howl Mountain” Granny May and Rory Docherty encounter their past and try to move forward in a world where life ain’t easy. Every breath hurts.

Taylor Brown uses extremely vivid, lengthy and powerful descriptions to provide the reader with the time, place and the feeling each character experiences. For me however, I had to keep reading each description a few times to get to the heart of the story and those descriptions took something away from the storyline. Once I was able to do that however, I truly enjoyed the characters of Granny May and Rory. They had heart, lots of gumption and were both fiercely protective of family. What more could you ask for?

Thank you to NetGalley, Taylor Brown and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Published on NetGalley and Goodreads on 2.3.18.
*Will be published on Amazon on 3.20.18.

Wow!  This was my first book by Taylor Brown and I was totally blown away with how vividly descriptive and enjoyable this novel was!  This book quickly went into my favourite reads shelf for 2018!

GODS OF HOWL MOUNTAIN by TAYLOR BROWN is a gritty, dark, intense, and compelling historical fiction novel that had me totally engaged, entertained, and interested throughout the whole book.  I absolutely loved this book from start to finish!

TAYLOR BROWN delivers a multi-layered story here that is so well-written, atmospheric, and so vividly descriptive that I felt like I was right there along with them in the mountains.  The characters were all so memorable and well-developed and I especially loved Granny May & Rory.

To sum it all up it was an engrossing, interesting, unforgettable, and an enjoyable read with a wonderful ending. Would highly recommend!

Publication date: March 20, 2018

Thank you so much to my fellow Traveling Sisters for another wonderful reading experience!

Thank you so much to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Taylor Brown for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a review!

After reading two other books by this author and not connecting with them I had said I wasn't going to try him again.
I lied.
Or more likely I forgot I said it.

BUT look at that cover!


*drools*

And that blurb had me from hello.

And I didn't hate it! It is the story of a former Korean War vet named Rory who has come home to his mountains and is running whiskey through those mountains. He lives at home with his Granny May.
Granny May I love you! Granny May used to be a whore..she gave that up after her daughter had some bad stuff happen that caused her to end up in the local mental hospital with no voice. After she stops the whoring she becomes the local go to person for all the old time folk healing.
Granny is the best! She gives the grandson advice...
"Don't wed 'em till they spread 'em son. There's words to live by. Any girl wants Jesus in her more than you, something ain't right.".

This book has so much of my favorite stuff to read about...moonshine, folk healing, violence and even throw in a church of snake healers.

Yes, please.

The only thing I can say bad about it is the fact that FOR ME this author writes so flowery that it tends to take away from his books subjects. There is dark stuff happening in them and the pretty language messes with my simple mind. However, I enjoyed this one enough that I'll sign up for his next book. 3.5 stars.

Booksource: Netgalley in exchange for review.

Rory returns from the war trying to fit back into a society of back country whiskey-running. He works twice as hard to make sure he makes his life and that of his family a success even amongst a community that is in constant battle.

I know many people will enjoy this style of writing, and the glimpse into another time and place.

5 gritty, vivid, whiskey-running stars to Gods of Howl Mountain 🥃 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

Have you ever heard of the Carolina parakeet, a now extinct colorful bird native to North Carolina? It plays a role in this book, and I have an interesting, but sad, connection to that beautiful bird. I had a beloved parakeet named Freddy as a child. We used to let Freddy out of his cage to fly around the house (I know! 👀 Recipe for disaster, right?!). One day I opened the door to take my bike outside, and Freddy flew out. To my horror, and through streams of tears, I saw him on the power line looking down at me. On top of the dismay of losing him, I just knew Freddy wouldn’t make it out in the wild. Enter the legend of the Carolina parakeet that my dad told me. It was just enough for that little girl to believe that maybe/hopefully Freddy survived. (...and I didn’t know the bird was already extinct, and Google didn’t exist yet, but I digress...) Well, this whole thing was a digression! On to the book! 💕

Gods of Howl Mountain, my first book from Taylor Brown, was in a league of its own. Brown specializes in descriptive, dark prose. I’ve lived in North Carolina most of my life, the state where the book took place. While I have not personally witnessed a setting or people like those in this book, I was nevertheless fully and completely transported by Brown’s writing. The descriptions were a little clunky to read at times because I would stop to reflect, re-read, and pause just to visualize the imagery. I wish there had been a little more flow to the writing, but the pay-off of the vivid perception was worth it for me.

Granny May and Rory were two of the most endearing, complex characters I’ve come across. They were both hard and beyond rugged around the edges, but with the purest of hearts. Even secondary characters were completely fleshed out like Eli, Bonni, and Eustace.

Historical fiction is my favorite genre because I always learn something new. Rory’s experience in his short time in the Korean War was both tragic and enlightening. The dangerous whiskey-running 🥃 business was something I knew next to nothing about. Granny May’s interest in herbs and healing was fascinating.

If I had to pick the one area where this book excelled the most, it would be the characters. If you enjoy descriptive books with some of the best characterization around, don’t miss Gods of Howl Mountain!

This was a Traveling Sister read, and as always it was a pleasure discussing this book. ♥️ Please check out Norma and Brenda’s amazing blog for more reviews: https://twogirlslostinacouleereading.wordpress.com

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. It's one of those rare finds that comes together on all fronts: unique and vivid characters, rich descriptions, well-constructed setting, good pacing, and a nice balance between lightness and drama.

The reader can really disappear into the world of Howl Mountain, and the characters feel present and real. While I found the ending a little neat, that didn't bother me much.

The author has a few tics -- words or descriptions that recur often enough to stick out -- and I eventually got distracted by the frequency with which characters belched through their teeth or spat on the ground. I also raised an eyebrow once or twice when I didn't <strong>quite</strong> believe our hero would've made it through. He certainly has nine lives.

None of this substantially decreased my enjoyment of the book, though. It was well done, and one of my favorite reads in recent memory.

One of my favorite books of 2017 was If The Creek Don't Rise, set in the remote hills of North Carolina in 1970. Now here I am again, absolutely loving another book set in the hills of NC, this time in the fall of 1952.

Ex-Marine Rory Docherty has returned from the Korean conflict missing his left leg below the knee, but that hasn't stopped him from running moonshine down into the valley below for the big boss Eustace in his souped-up car. Rory lives in the hills with his Granny May who is not anything like the granny in the Beverly Hillbillies. Yes, she loves her rocking chair and her corncob pipe, but what's in that pipe, eh? And how did she earn her living and support her family after her husband came back from the great war in a pine box? She's been taking care of Rory all his life--especially since his mother Bonni was put in an asylum. She went a little crazy after her lover was beaten to death before her very eyes and hasn't spoken a word since. But she did manage to pluck an eye from one of the hooded attackers; that probably saved her life.

This is my first taste of Taylor Brown's writing and I am hooked. His descriptions are gorgeous, putting you right there in those hills as the leaves turn to gold. And there you are riding along for some pretty exciting action as Rory zooms around those switchback, trying to avoid being caught by the revenue men. Brown has created some terrific, eccentric characters who really come to life in these pages. And Rory finds time for a little romance when he meets Christine, Pastor Adderholt's daughter at one of the church meetings where people are speaking in tongues and passing around a rattle snake. Lordy!

Some vintage Scruggs and Flatt music you might enjoy listening to while reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjLyV...

Thank you to NetGalley, Taylor Brown and St Martin's for providing me with an arc of this excellent new book. My first 5-star read of 2018!

Taylor Brown's Gods of Howl Mountain was an excellent story. From beginning to end, I had a hard time putting it down. All the characters had some built in mystery to them that added to the intrigue. I think the this is one of the first novels I have read where there wasn't really a general plot, no A to Z story. I think that aspect of it made it even more interesting because there were so many twists and turns throughout, the novel never became dull. Overall, it is a must recommend to all who enjoy a little adventure.

It’s dark and moody and oh so beautiful.

Honestly, I really didn’t like this book at the beginning. I was reading it thinking, “You know, this might be one that I don’t finish.” Then, somewhere around a fourth or a third of the way through, the characters suddenly clicked into place. Everything in the story became more vibrant. It was one of those moments as a reader where you have to remind yourself to stick with it. Some literary gems bury themselves deep in the story before you find them and that’s how it was for me with this book.

I love me some good dark southern fiction, the kind with symbolism and maybe even some real-life witchcraft. Granny is one of my new favorite southern-lit characters. She’s strong, clever, and funny but her heart beats for her daughter and grandson. She isn’t perfect, not even close, but she’s as stalwart as the chestnut tree in her yard. Rory, the protagonist is also such a unique character. Older than his years due to the intense violence of the Chosin Reservoir in the Korean War that left a disfiguring injury. His childhood as the son of a madwoman and the grandson of a whore and his adulthood as a moonshine runner hasn’t helped.

There is a lot of violence in this book, right off the bat. It’s not the shock-and-awe violence of other books though. It’s the everyday kind that people living in a harsh world with little money have to deal with. Gritty is how I would put the world that Brown has created and all the characters have to be hard to make it in such a place. The pace of the story changes through it, speeding in some places and meandering in others.

That meandering though sometimes went a tad too long for my taste, which is what made it so hard to get into the book until about Bonni’s first chapter. I think though my biggest strike against the book actually has little to do with the book itself. I hate cars, and scenes about driving, racing, and maintaining them. I knew a car would feature prominently due to Rory’s occupation but I just couldn’t bring myself to enjoy it despite Brown’s lovely prose. However, that won’t stop me from recommending this book to everyone because it really is a beautifully atmospheric read.


Note: I received a free Kindle edition of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher St. Martin’s Press, and the author Taylor Brown for the opportunity to do so.

4.5 seductive stars

Life in the fifties in this mountain community was vividly portrayed by Taylor Brown. Coming back from war is always difficult. To return to the normalcy of life is a task many face, witnessing the horridness of war, time, the smell of death, the toll it takes on your mind heart and soul.

For Rory Docherty, coming back home also meant coming back to the rural mountains of his birth. He has lost a leg to war, and returns to a place where both an internal and external war rages. His community is one of boot legging, souped up car racing, whiskey running, and filled with the aura of mysticism and folklore.

For his grandmother, Granny May, a former prostitute, folk healer, and woman who tells it like it is, having her grandson home is both a blessing and a curse. You see Granny has carried a secret kept from Rory about his mother Bonnie, who after an awful experience is left dumb, never to utter a word. She is in a facility where care is provided but words from her are never uttered. Granny loves her grandson. She is a hard woman bent by years of a difficult life, honed from the mountains she came from, but buoyed by her spirit and hardness. She is tough , she is witty, and she is ready to lay down her life for the boy she loves.

The folk of the town, are a mixture of hard living, hard driving, whiskey running people. They live rough, they talk rough, they are mountain people. They keep the outside world at bay by holding their secrets close and their guns even closer.

Rory meets a girl, Christine, the daughter of a snake handling preacher. He is attracted to her. Granny does not approve and says that some things need to be buried. As we see Rory fight off federal agents, a rival whiskey runner, and secrets, he falls for Christine and is drawn to the church where the preacher and the congregation believe in the power of the serpent to free your soul and make one commune with the spirit of god.

The story is riveting and the author makes you one with his characters, the surroundings, and life in this unrefined environment where people flock to Granny May for her healing potions and where life is ever so different from what one might have considered normal in the '50s. Mesmerizing language, followed by mesmerizing people make this tale atmospheric and moody and holds the reader in suspense as all is revealed. This is a gritty novel as gritty as the people that are portrayed and one that invites the reader into a world that they knew little about.

Thank you to Taylor Brown, St Martin's Press, and NetGalley for providing an ARC of this intriguing novel.

I struggled to get into this book so I didn’t finish it.