Review Summaries

• Readers can approach the work through its premise, language, and award context, while responses may vary depending on genre preference and expectations.

Reviews

• Darkness in the Valley of the Sun

  Dark. That is the world of James Sallis. And even though it is set in Phoenix, the Valley of the Sun, THE KILLER IS DYING is the darkest Sallis novel yet - at least of the ten that I have now read. There are three central characters, and each is bleakly alone. Christian is a Viet Nam vet, who later spent time in a prison in Arkansas where he was raped. He is a contract killer. He lives in cheap motels. And he is dying. Dale Sayles is a veteran police detective. His wife Josie has left the house to go to a hospice. She, too, is dying. Teen-ager Jimmie lives by himself in the house he once shared with his parents. First his mom split; then, a year ago, his dad. He is not dying (yet), but what sort of life lies ahead of him? All three spend large chunks of time surfing the Internet or plagued by dreams - i.e., in alternative worlds. And their three lonely lives come close to intersecting after Christian goes out on a contract (set up via the Internet) and someone else, mystifyingly, tries to make the hit before he can. "Too much suffering in the world already. The problem comes when you start believing that the suffering, all that untold, endless suffering, has to have meaning." That's one of the observations of the killer Christian. And to the extent that THE KILLER IS DYING has a message, that's it. Nor is there any redemption. It is a dark world. The writing is clipped. There are many keenly rendered details, usually of the grittier, smellier, tackier aspects of urban life. The narrative moves at a fast pace, but almost always cloaked in a thin fog of vague confusion - as in a dream. Sallis is singular. He may be an acquired taste. His noir-ish mysteries seem to cater to disenchanted intellectuals. (He also has translated works of Raymond Queneau and others, written a biography of Chester Himes, and published a book of poetry.) I prefer the works from the first half of his career - the Lew Griffin series, set in New Orleans - over anything more recent, including THE KILLER IS DYING. But it too has, for me, a certain addictive, albeit existentially perverse, appeal.

• Le lecteur se meurt

  À la longue de finir par comprendre qui est qui, et qui parle au début de chaque chapitre. C'est l.anti polar,mais un bon roman noir, très noir, un chouïa déprimant même.

• Another short masterpiece

  James Sallis does it again with this short, beautiful novel. The Amazon blurb tells you all you need to know about the plot etc but what it doesn't tell you is Sallis' secret in being able to engage his readers with minimal prose. I don't know either - it just works, perfectly. If you are a fan of his Lew Griffin novels or Death Wil Have Your Eyes you know what to expect. Snap this up on Kindle now as the p/back isn't out until September.

• Five Stars

  REally good read.

• Five Stars

  Amazing stories, and full of small side stories.

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