James Sallis, Cripple Creek

Cripple Creek

James Sallis

Walker, Apr 2006, $23.00, 208 pp.

ISBN 0802733824

Turner tries, for what seems to him the umpteenth time, to start over; this time he is a deputy sheriff in Cripple Creek, Tennessee. The small town near Memphis has little crime so he expects to "heal" again, this time from the CYPRESS GROVE investigation.

However, perhaps Turner is a magnet for trouble, as his boss Sheriff Don Lee arrests Judd Kurtz on a DUI charge only to find $200,000 in a gym bag hidden in the trunk. Not waiting around, Kurtz with outsider muscle escapes from the Cripple Creek jail, leaving behind two critically wounded cops including Lee. Turner takes over and makes enquiries into Kurtz's recent activities, which lead him to a coming home, as he tracks Kurtz to organized crime centered in Memphis, but moving concentrically out into the suburbs.

This tense tale is surprisingly enlivened by the insight into Turner, his banjo-picking girlfriend Val, and the Cripple Creek community, as readers will contrast the normality of everyday life and relationships vs. the investigation. The little things like misdemeanors seem like pebbles to boulders when compared to the Kurtz case. Even the wild twisted ending that fans will reread several times to insure they got it, adds to the analogies that showcase James Sallis at his best with Turner's second thriller.