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Randall Wilkes was once a big name journalist but after making fictional statements in a series of articles, he is fired and in disgrace. Therefore the well paying job of ghostwriting the autobiography of former Tennessee governor Sonny McMahan is not a job he is willing to turn down. The fact that he grew up with Sonny makes the choice even easier. After he arrives in Pilgrim's Rest, he has a run-in with Faye McMahan, Sonny's mother. Faye has escaped from her caretaker, Opal, and wandered over to see Randall. She has only a loose grasp on the present and attempts to tell Randall about her husband's reappearance and about the bodies recently discovered in Pilgrim's Rest. Randall has not heard anything about the discovery of skeletons and Blue, Faye's husband, was presumed dead many years ago. Luckily he is able to return her to Opal and they both calm her down. Embarrassing Though initially, Faye's remarks are discounted, after she turns up dead, other events confirm much of what she had been saying. When skeletal remains prove to belong to a long-disappeared girl Randall dated in high school, he must begin to ask questions that may prove embarrassing. DAMNATION FALLS shares many traits with the books in Edward Wright's John Ray Horn mystery series. Both series focuses on the darkness that lurks under the surface of society, of individuals and of crime itself. The characters tend to lack hope and view the future bleakly; yet, the books end in such a way as the protagonists have the feeling that their actions and choices do make a difference in the world. Hope might not exist in their world but justice does. I did not enjoy DAMNATION FALLS as much as the John Ray Horn series. While there are many similarities between this book and the Horn series, I do not find Randall Wilkes as appealing a character as John Ray Horn. Even though Wilkes ultimately finds redemption for some of the lies he told as a journalist, I still held these lies against him. While this is ultimately petty of me, it did shadow the way I viewed the book and the character. Though my view of Wilkes remains unchanged, Edward Wright does an excellent job of portraying the changes and self discovery Wilkes makes throughout DAMNATION FALLS. Wilkes's character growth and developing acceptance of the people he grew up with should appeal to all readers searching for a character-driven mystery.
Reviewed by Sarah Dudley, April 2009
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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