Damnation Falls

by Edward Wright

Book Overview

Randall Wilkes, his big-city journalism career in ruins, has returned after twenty years to Pilgrim's Rest, the Tennessee hill town where he grew up. He has taken on a lucrative but low-prestige... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312380011
• ISBN13: 9780312380014
• Release Date: August 2008
• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Length: 339 Pages
• Weight: 1.06 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.3" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

A Damned Good Read

The best novels delineate psychological growth. In Damnation Falls, Randall Wilkes' search for truth causes him to reassess both his town's moral compass and his own relationships. Ed Wright is a fine writer of the suspense genre, and he gives you much more than action. His voice is an interesting combination of nostalgia and journalistic objectivity. He makes his reader face the violence that results from lies, yet he also shares his sensitive interaction with characters worthy of empathy. The novel is a fine trip to Tennessee and to the social intricacies of life in a small town. Take a trip down the falls. Rapids.

A journey into what makes up a community

Randall Wilkes was flying high. He had a big-city Chicago career in journalism and it was all good. But then his career crashed and burned. No career meant it was probably time to return home. It had been many years after all. On his way home to Pilgrim's Rest in Tennessee, Randall stops to meet his childhood friend Sonny McMahan. Sonny had been governor and wants his autobiography/memoir written. And Randall needs a job so he took the round trip plane ticket Sonny offered and then agreed to write the book. On the first night back, Sonny's elderly mother Faye begins talking about her dead husband. The husband she says is still alive. When Randall later hears a scream (during a storm) and goes to check on Faye, he first finds her assistant Opal Hicks dead, and then he stumbles upon Faye hanging from the bridge over Damnation Falls. When Sonny's dead father shows up alive, another person is murdered and the long-dead body of a young woman who is connected to Randall is discovered, it is evident that there are long-buried secrets to be brought to light. Randall is determined to find out how the present has been impacted by the past. I've never read anything by Edward Wright before. That situation is corrected and I'm excited to begin reading his earlier books. Damnation Falls is a page-turner. It is a fast-paced, well-plotted, complex journey into the heart of a community and those that live in that community. Randall is required to use his investigative skills to solve the murders and while doing so, is called upon to separate fact from the convenient memories we all concoct about life. The characters are real, fallible human beings with secrets they fight to protect. Armchair Interviews says: A must read.

strong regional investigative tale

Chicago reporter Randall Wilkes was at the top of the world when he was fired by the newspaper editor. He slinks back disgraced to his hometown of Pilgrim's Rest, Tennessee, but stops on the way in Nashville where he is given an opportunity to write the biography of the former governor Sonny McMahan; Randall and Sonny were his childhood friends. However, only a few hours after Randall reaches his hometown, Sonny's elderly mom is found dead hanging from a bridge; her youthful care-provider is also brutally murdered. Shockingly at about the same time, Sonny's no-good late father reappears from the dead. When the remains of Randall's first lover are found after years of burial, the journalist decides to use his investigating skills and dig into murders cold and hot. This is a strong regional investigative tale as the hero must separate what he recalls nostalgically from what he knows as fact. The story line is driven by the determined Randall who after two decades in the big city must re-adapt to small-town rural sensitivities. Readers will appreciate his efforts as friendships, family, and his reminiscing interfere with his inquiry. Harriet Klausner

"There aren't any heroes in this story, Sonny."

First Sentence: All through my growing-up, my father and I would often tramp through the woods around our small Tennessee town. Randall Wilkes, whose career as a Chicago newspaperman has gone up in flames, has come back to his small home town of Pilgrim's Rest, Tennessee. He has agreed to ghost write the autobiography of his boyhood friend and former state governor, Sonny McMahan. On his first night back, he is visited by his friend's elderly and confused mother, Faye, who rambles about her dead husband, Sonny's father, being alive. Later, he is awakened by a scream, goes to check on Faye and finds her helper dead and Faye hanged from the nearly by bridge over Damnation Falls. Soon, another body is found and Randall is out to discover who is behind the killings. There is a line of dialogue, in the book, which represents one of the aspects I most liked: "There aren't any heroes in this story, Sonny." Wright creates characters who are all very fallible and human. The protagonist is one of the most appealing I've read in awhile. The setting of the story is wonderful and there's a very moving story within the story. The story is very well plotted with a nice little twist at the end and a good build of suspense, but the focus is on the characters and what drives them. I have been a fan of Wright's John Horn series, and this book stands up well against those. If you've not read Edward Wright, I highly recommend giving him a try.