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A Single Shot
Synopsis
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After the loss of his family farm, John Moon is a desperate man. A master hunter, his ability to poach game in-season or out is the only thing that stands between him and the soup kitchen line. Until Moon trespasses on the wrong land, hears a rustle in the brush, and fires a single fateful shot. But before he has a chance to decide, Moon finds himself on the run, pursued by those who think the money is theirs. Men who don’t care about right and wrong and who want only one thing from John Moon: his body, face down in a ditch. Matthew F. Jones’ A Single Shot is a rare, visionary thriller reminiscent of the work of Tom Franklin, Ron Rash, Daniel Woodrell, and Cormac McCarthy |
Praise
“A harrowing literary thriller…a powerful blend of love and violence, of the grotesque and the tender.”
— Chrisopher Lehman-Haupt, The New York Times
“A backwoods drama that is part Crime And Punishment, part Deliverance and all white-knuckled suspense…A Single Shot packs a helluva punch.”
— Pam Lambert, People
“[A] high-voltage thriller, a gritty, claustrophobic blend of Jim Thompson and James Dickey.”
— Publishers Weekly *Starred Review
“A Single Shot {is} the finest portrait of guilt since Crime and Punishment.”
— Susan Salter Reynolds, The Los Angeles Times Book Review
“The most gripping read of the summer….Jones is remarkably adept at detailing the way both nature and necessity turn against Moon. The result is something like Patricia Highsmith plotting a novel by John Gardner (with) scenes of gruesomely detailed violence alternating with exquisitely described natural beauty.”
— Michael Harrington, The Philadelphia Inquirer
A violent study of desperation, owing more to Dostoevsky and Faulker than any suspense writer, A Single Shot unfolds like a graphic, slow motion nightmare from which the protagonist will never awaken.”
— Library Journal
“A terrific novel…you can hardly breathe while you’re reading this book…[John Moon’s] crisis evokes every palm-sweating, heart-stopping, seemingly undoable mistake you’ve ever made.”
— Los Angeles Times
“Jones owns a fine writer’s eye for the kind of details that matter…it is Jones’ skillful straight-from-the –shoulder depiction of [Moon] and his pinched world that resonates and then compels…the author draws his disoriented thoughts with dark and excellent detail.”
— Daniel Woodrell, The Washington Post
“The ultimate noir nightmare…Jones conveys the claustrophobic, dead-end lifestyle of the rural poor with a frightening incisiveness.”
— Peter Handel, San Francisco Sunday Examiner & Chronicle
“An absolutely riveting read. Jones gives trailer-park minimalism just what it’s always needed – a story to tell and one that your mind won’t let go of for quite a while.”
— Gary Krist, Smart Money
Matthew F. Jones is the author of seven critically acclaimed novels as well as a number of screenplays. His novels have been widely translated and several times have been named on best novels of the year lists. Three of his novels, A Single Shot, Deepwater and Boot Tracks, have been made into major motion pictures. He has taught creative writing at a number of colleges and universities, including Randolph Macon College, Lynchburg College and the University of Virginia. He grew up on a horse and dairy farm in rural upstate New York and currently lives in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Other Books
Boot Tracks
Boot Tracks is a commanding tale of a man and a woman struggling against a destiny they cannot control, told in Matthew F. Jones’ characteristically taut, economic style. An assassination gone terribly wrong; a couple searching for one last chance to find a safe place in a hostile world.
Deepwater
A sexy, riveting psychological thriller about a young man with an unknowable past who lands in a small town, seduces a man’s wife and steals his beloved dog. Matt Jones has created a cast of wonderfully complex characters and enough twists and turns to keep you flipping the pages until the very last one.
The Elements of Hitting
Walter Innis, son of a frustrated and violent fallen baseball star and a tragically unhappy woman driven to infidelity, carries his family’s legacy of torment into his own adult life – with disastrous results. Ultimately, it is as a Little League coach that Walter discovers a route to happiness and hope beyond the reach of the past.