Like Lions

Like Lions is a superb and masterful follow up to multiple award-winning debut Bull Mountain. Well worth the read!

I have been waiting with baited breath for this sequel to the marvelous Bull Mountain. I would definitely read Bull Mountain first as it will really add to the enjoyment of the novel, however, I think it could also work as a stand-alone. Sheriff Burroughs is trying to police his area after government enforcement stripped his family's empire and killing family members. Different from his deceased brothers, he displays a soft touch and only wants peace to come to his area. However this is not to be as rival clans want to swoop in and deal in the drug trade. When a young boy from the other clan is killed it steps up the fight. Burroughs has to call in the remainder of his loyalists to help bring order. The tension is high throughout powering me to burn the midnight oil and beyond to one of the greatest endings ever. Panowich may be a new author but is one to watch for creating suspense at new and arresting heights. I just loved the book.

1972. Bull Mountain is in north Georgia. It’s been run by the Burroughs clan for 4 generations. 3rd generation boss is Gareth Burroughs. He runs guns, drugs, ‘shine’, through his county, anything that’ll make him money. Cruel man. To everyone. Wife Annette has been beaten enough and sneaks out with Clayton, the baby of their 3 sons. Leaving pre-teen older sons, Buckley and Halford. But she doesn’t get out of the compound before Gareth stops her. With Halford keeping a gun on her, Gareth keeps Clayton and lets Annette leave, penniless with just the clothes on her back.

Present day.
Gareth died some time ago with his meth shed caught fire. Buck is also dead. Clayton decided not to continue in the family business and got elected county sheriff. That left Halford in charge. Just like his deddy, a cruel cruel man. Ruthless and a killer of those who challenged the mountain. But one thing he did was he kept order on the mountain. He was more of a middleman who had to be paid to move contraband through his county to points north. But he did drugs. A lot. And got even meaner when high. One day, he chased a girl into the sheriff’s office, drew a shotgun on her and was met with two slugs to the chest. Courtesy of the sheriff. His brother Clayton. (most of that is what I gather happened in book #1).

Bull Mountain is home to an off-the-books club called The Chute. Rumor has it that it launders Burroughs money. Four idiot kids from some low-life family looking to expand their territory, hit The Chute and don’t find what they are looking for. Three fall. The fourth, JoJo is delivered to the man who was Gareth’s chief lieutenant (Scabby Mike) where he, Clayton and another member of the Burroughs followers interrogate JoJo. When done, JoJo is delivered back to his family’s homestead and dropped at the front door of the Viner matriarch.

Family against family for control of the criminal empire that is Bull Mountain. It’s the Capulets v the Montagues; Hatfields v McCoys; Corleones v Barsinis . . . on Bull Mountain, it’s the Burroughs v the Viners.

And make no mistake about it. This feud involves money, drugs, guns, pride, vengeance, vendettas and a whole lot of history. The violence is merciless, and the revenge is vicious. And no one is immune. Anyone remotely connected to either family is at risk. Clayton’s wife Kate and their 1yo son Eben are targeted. And we quickly learn about family loyalty and the depth of that loyalty.
Panowich is from Grovetown, GA that I’m guessing is near Augusta. His debut novel Bull Mountain was the 2016 International Thriller Writers Award winner for best first novel and was also the Pat Conroy Award for best crime novel. Other reviewers have called his work ‘Country Noir’ or ‘Southern Crime’. I’ve used the term Redneck Noir, but this might be in its own class. Hillbilly Noir maybe?

Whatever. This isn’t our normal political thriller or police procedural. This is about family and the extent to which family will go to protect family and anyone important to that family. In doing so, Panowich plants twist after twist in the plot, most of which you will never anticipate. Especially the final twist in the epilogue.

What you need to do is find this book. And not even having read Bull Mountain, based on this one, I’d suggest you find them both and read them in order. Also found a note that a British studio, ITV, has optioned his work for TV. Nothing more than that. Stay tuned.

Bare-knuckled, surprising, twisty and raw, this is superb suspense fiction peopled with richly defined characters and studded with powerful moments. Panowich is on his way to becoming a superstar.

Clayton Burroughs is back after the events in Bull Mountain. It’s about a year later, and he’s picking up the pieces after the feds ran roughshod over his family to bring down the drug business that his brother ran. Clayton has no desire to take up the mantle and continue the family business, he’s looking to keep the peace. However, a robbery gone wrong, an accidental death and he finds himself having to defend himself from some people who would like to rub him and his family out to take over the business. People are killed in not very pleasant circumstances. This book was told in more of a linear format than the first, there are only two flashbacks, one at the beginning and one at the end, that one at the end is a real eye opener. Overall very enjoyable, I look forward to further work by this author.

This story begins with a reflective prologue, set in the year 1972, back when Clayton’s family was still whole, living under one roof. A mother, father, and two brothers, filling in some gaps from the past, and then continues in the present.

The Burroughs family has lived on Bull Mountain for generations, but in the present time, his brothers are both gone, as is his father. His mother hasn’t been in his life for as long as Clayton can remember. The generations of men that came before him were moonshiners, then marijuana growers, and then meth, only Clayton’s turned his back on the family business, but business keeps trying to pull him back in. Now it’s OxyContin. The Leek clan means to run OxyContin through the county and all they’re asking is for Clayton to turn a blind eye. The Viners have plans of their own.

When his wife and infant son’s lives are threatened, what’s a sheriff to do? Should he -can he - rely on his team of somewhat inept law officials, who are no match for his enemies, to keep them safe? Or should he turn to his ancestral criminal ways?

Where this excels is in Panowich’s transportive prose, the emotionally raw and beautifully descriptive details that share the beauty of this rural area, and the determination of these people. Perhaps especially Clayton, whose body and soul bear the scars of the wounded so that you can’t help but feel his physical pain with each step, as well as his emotions as they come to the surface.

”Clayton was the exact opposite, he held onto everything. He hoarded guilt and pain the way some people did magazines and newspapers until it just became part of the everyday landscape.”

From the Prologue to the Epilogue, and all the pages in between, this covers the good, the bad, and the ugly in life. Poignant moments throughout keep this from being one tense moment after another, wrapping things up with an astonishingly fantastic conclusion that I never saw coming.

Call it grit-lit, southern-lit, hillbilly noir, whatever you like, just read this expressively electric, incredible return to Bull Mountain.


Pub Date: 30 Apr 2019

Many thanks for the ARC provided by St. Martin’s Press / Minotaur Books

In 2015, I attended the Decatur Book Festival and a title for one of the sessions caught my eye. I can't now remember what it was: Revenge in the Mountains; or Mountain Justice or some such thing (but much more clever) and I saw Brian Panowich (with his debut Bull Mountain) and Julie Keller (author of the Belle Elkins) books. It was one of the best author talks I've ever seen. This firefighter cowboy and Harvard educated middle aged woman from West Virginia had the most delightful conversation about writing, Marvel vs. DC comics, and when to go low and when to go high (brow, that is). I immediately picked up their books and Bull Mountain was one of the most surprising and delightful books I've ever read. It's a mystery, and falls clearly within the (relatively new) category of "Grit Lit", but it its so smart and literary and speaks to the push and pull of family in such a remarkable way. Needless to say, everyone on my holiday list got a copy that year and I've been waiting ever since for Panowich's next book.

AND HERE IT IS!!! Like Lions takes place in the same world as his debut. You could read this as a stand alone, but it would spoil a few plot points of Bull Mountain, and since you will fall in love with Panowich and want to read it too, I would suggest starting there!

Like Lions takes the conclusion of Bull Mountain (not just the conclusion of the mystery, but also of the resolution of the questions that it asks about family, community and boundaries) and immediately stirs up the pot.

Once again, Panowich's writing does not disappoint. It's literary and Southern and the plot is spot on. Panowich fills the plot with twists and turns, often several in a single scene. It was a fabulous County Fair joy ride of a book and one I highly recommend. But, if you are on my Christmas list, hold off . . . you might get it as a gift this year!

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martins Press and Minotaur Books for the preview copy. If you liked Bull Mountain, don't miss this one! I felt like I was watching a movie unfold as I read. The characters- both the good guys and the bad guys- were well done. The story just pulls you in. I wasn't sure that the sheriff could turn his life around in a positive way. I wasn't sure if Scabby Mike was a good guy or a bad guy. Wasn't sure about Twyla...

Well written-enjoyed the story.

Review:

In the foothills of McFalls County,
Waymore Valley.

“Clayton had defined himself as a good Sheriff—a good man and husband. The only good son born of a crooked tree.”

A place ruled by fear before and continues to try emerge.

The tales starts with a robbery pulled off by
“dumbest shit-bird this side of Bear Creek”

And then…

One adversary a member of the Viner clan said,
“Deddy will rain fire down on this place like you ain’t never seen. You know ain’t nobody up here got the juice no more to stop us.”

Sounds like a while lots bad things going to converge in North Georgia.
Some also want a deal to run certain commodities through the land too.

“Burroughs’s time in North Georgia was over.”

Will it be, we will have to see.

But things will have to be kept maybe cleaner because:

“McFalls County is not run by the Burroughs family anymore, but by the law.”

Let’s hope the Law can protect the innocents with the war ensuing.

Gripping you to the end of the escalating events, with at the helm of things, and main character of this tale, one that will not partake in leadership over that ancient Oak farm table, the war room in the Compound, yes that’s right like the one in Sons of Anarchy, this is men of Bull Mountain, Sons of Burroughs, brotherhood and kin, with blood loss and weighty things presiding over peoples consciousness.

The same reasons you may love the writings of Elmore Leonard, William Faulkner, Daniel Woodrell, Chris Offutt, and Donald Ray Pollock, to name a few, you would love this work.
All the desperation for preservations, trying to pave new ways, not the old ways, when fear was the currency of Kings, a mighty hard task undoing bad doings, bad legacies, the past, but never dead, all before the reader with the careful craft of a potent storyteller.

Featuring:

Gareth Burroughs
Halford Burroughs
Clayton Burroughs
Kate Burroughs

Wallace Cobb
Scabby Mike

Twyla Viner
Coot Viner
Vanessa Viner
Tate Viner
Joseph Viner

Glass of whisky in one hand and Like Lions in the other. Great story about bad families, gangs, drugs and paybacks. Characters are deep and serious, no messing around. I haven’t read the Bull Mountain but after meeting Sheriff Clayton Burroughs and his wife Kate I can’t wait to put my hands on it. I enjoyed every page of this very well written book.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is a well written and topical story of a man fighting crime on multiple levels in a town many have forgotten. I missed Bull (my loss) but this is perfect as a standalone because the characters come through so clearly. Sheriff Clayton Burroughs knows the rot that's been in his town for generations and now there's opioids and other things adding to the mess. This starts off with a bang and doesn't let go in a way that has less to do with the action than with the sense of time and place. Clay and his wife Kate are trying to hold things together in the wake of his being shot and his brothers (not good people) killed but that's not easy. How Clay deals with the need to balance his family's safety (as well as that of the community) with doing the right thing is at the root of this dark read. Thanks to net galley for the ARC. Fans of southern crime fiction, especially, although those who like crime fiction in general, will appreciate this for the language and style Panowich brings to the genre.