Lone Creek

by Neil McMahon

Book Overview

After a failed career and marriage in California, Hugh Davoren is back in Helena, Montana, as a construction hand at the old Pettyjohn Ranch, home of many childhood memories--including the seemingly accidental death of his teenaged first love, Celia.

Hugh is just trying to get through another long workday on the ranch when he discovers two dead stallions. A further probe into the matter only pushes Hugh into dangerous corners, as he finds...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060792221
• ISBN13: 9780060792220
• Release Date: June 2008
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.4" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

It's a good one

Booklist says "McMahon might be ready to take his place alongside such writers as James Crumley and C. J. Box." I.ve never read Crumley but McMahon is whole lot better than C.J. Box any day! Nice read. There were only a couple over-the-top instances that marred it.

Getting to be a must read author!

A great book in a setting and with plot unlike anything McMahon has written before with an attention to detail that makes the book come alive. (Few people know that when on a motorcycle your knuckles get cold very fast or that Timothy is a type of grass used to make hay.) I hope for many more books from McMahon set in the "Big Sky Country".

"He inadvertently unleashes a maelstrom of explosive violence that can only end one way..."

Neil McMahon, author of the Dr. Carroll Monks series, has established a reputation as a competent if under-appreciated journeyman writer. His latest novel meets and exceeds any and all expectations raised by his previous work. LONE CREEK is a world removed from the Monks books, trading the hospital environs of San Francisco for McMahon's home turf of Montana, and Monks's surgical scrubs for the carpentry tools of one Hugh Davoren. I suspect that McMahon has much more in common with Davoren than he does with Monks --- McMahon lives in Montana and, like Davoren, is a carpenter --- and the apparent similarities between the two men infuses LONE CREEK with a reality and an immediacy that is a rarity in works of fiction. The book begins with Davoren doing carpentry work for Wesley Balcomb, the new owner of the Pettyjohn Ranch near Helena, Montana. The ranch holds a mixed bag of memories for Davoren that is all but swept away when he makes a grisly if accidental discovery on the ranch property while working. He is then fired and arrested on the same day, in what appears to be a setup. Davoren's job termination is the least of his worries, though, as it quickly becomes clear that Balcomb isn't satisfied with simply ruining him --- Balcomb wants him dead. Davoren's allies are few, but one --- Madbird, an Indian carpenter who easily walks away with the book --- helps Davoren to even the odds, despite being outnumbered by lawyers, guns and money. Ultimately, however, as Davoren slowly uncovers the secrets of Balcomb and the Pettyjohn ranch, he inadvertently unleashes a maelstrom of explosive violence that can only end one way. As compelling as Davoren and Madbird are, the real protagonist of LONE CREEK is Montana itself, brought to vivid, thundering life by McMahon's prose. Writers, both veteran and fledgling, will often hold up --- and rightfully so --- the opening paragraph of THE LAST GOOD KISS by James Crumley as an example of all that good writing should be. I suspect that the first page of LONE CREEK will be held in similar high esteem. Read it, and then try to put the book down, even for a few minutes. The momentum of its words sweeps you along, as Davoren's first-person account slices in and out of his life, past and present, and we learn not only of his rough edges but also how they got there. LONE CREEK is most assuredly a keeper --- as intriguing a work of fiction as you'll read all year. --- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

A Great Read !

The only negative thing about Lone Creek is that it ended. Every once in a while I find a book I enjoy so much that I am saddened when it is finished. I have ordered his other four books as well as a couple more copies of Lone Creek to give to friends. Great job Neil.

A fabulous thriller

Former journalist Hugh Davoren figures he has come full circle as he works construction near his hometown of Helena, Montana. Hugh plans to keep out of trouble by just doing his day job as a laborer at the renovation of the colossal old Pettyjohn Ranch though the place has bad memories for him, bought by affluent Easterner, Wesley Balcomb and his wife Laurie. However, Laurie is fascinated by his scar on his face, which he says is nothing more than a drunken surgeon's reminder that medicine and alcohol don't mix even if the remains seem interesting. However, Davoren's efforts to stay clean fail when he finds two murdered thoroughbreds dumped in the reconstruction garbage heap. Instead of praise for doing his job, he is tossed in jail as the East Coast businessman wants him out of the way though Davoren cannot think of any motive unless the newcomer is dealing in illegal trafficking. With the help of his only on-site friend, Blackfoot Viet Nam veteran "Madbird", he makes inquires even as adversaries on both sides of the law want him dead with the most dangerous being hired killer John Doe. LONE CREEK is a fabulous thriller starring an individual trying to stay out of trouble, but becomes a magnet for danger though he does not know why. Hugh is a wonderful protagonist as for the most part he avoids people especially his employer's wife yet in spite of his efforts people come after him, literally trying to kill him. Readers will follow Davoren's efforts to survive an ordeal he does not understand in one Big Sky sitting. Harriet Klausner