 The third instalment of the superb ‘Earl Marcus’ hillbilly noir series confirms that Hank Early deserves to mix with the giants of crime and mystery fiction  Over the last couple of years Earl Marcus has fast become one of my favourite Fictional detectives and Echoes of the Fall is the third in the series set in the small town of Riley in the mountainous regions of north Georgia. I look forward to his reappearance as much as my all-time favourite detectives John Rebus and Harry Bosch. The area the novels is set is known as the ‘Five Fingers’ named after five mountains which dominate the surrounding landscape. I would strongly recommend you read the novels in the correct sequence; beginning with Heaven’s Crooked Finger and then In the Valley of the Devil, before embarking upon this latest Earl Marcus adventure. Book three could still be read as a standalone novel, but greater enjoyment will be had by picking up the character development and many references which knit the three books together and the wider story arc which threads through this wonderful series. Although they are not horror novels, the series does have a vague undiagnosed supernatural touch, particularly in the first two books, but ultimately they are outstandingly atmospheric thrillers with a unique sense of time and place. I’ve never drunk whiskey in the back-water honky-tonk bars described in these books or visited locations like ‘Backslide Gap’ or ‘Ghost Creek’ but this series transports directly into this other world and vividly breathes life into them. Few series use their locale better than Hank Early does, which at times is simply breath-taking and places a significant part in the success of the series. If we are talking sub-genres the Earl Marcus Mystery series could probably be called ‘Hillbilly Noir’ and ‘Appalachian Noir’ which is very popular in America at the moment and these books should be ranked amongst the very best of the genre. Earl Marcus is a private detective who, after many years away, once again lives in his childhood hometown of Riley, and at the beginning of the novel is suffering from both personal and alcohol problems which are loosely connected to events from the previous novels. The trilogy frequently refers back to Earl’s unhappy childhood, whose father was a charismatic Pentecostal preacher who led his own church. His father’s shadow dominates the series, particularly book one and there are frequent flashbacks to his formative years as a teenager. Much of Hank’s personal problems are connected to issues with his father and his inner demons are never far from bubbling to the surface, which is another recurring theme and an aspect of his character which makes him incredibly engaging. Many of the established characters return in this third outing; his best friends Rufus Gribble, who is blind and squats in the ruins of his father’s old church and Ronnie Thrash who both help Earl with his personal problems and his detective work. Ronnie, who is a neighbour of Earl, also has nice character development when he starts a band called the ‘Bluegrass Mountain Cult’. Although book three is predominately written in the first person from Earl’s point of view, it expands upon this and gives Rufus a much bigger role as he is facing his own inner demons, including terrific flashbacks to when he was a teenager which is connected to the major wider story arc of Echoes of the Fall. The mystery begins when Earl discovers a dead body in his front yard and due to long running issues with the local sheriff he does not report this to the police. Instead he begins to investigate, and realising the dead man was coming to him for help and the mystery deepens. Initially Earl does not believe he can involve his friends in this case and after finding a letter in the dead man’s pocket with a cryptic message about God and rebellion the trail leads to the Harden School, a reform institution for boys. Because of spoilers, I do not want to say much more about the plot. Fans of the series will be delighted to see further familiar characters pop-up; the dangerous redneck politician Jeb Walsh makes a seedy return, but this time out Earl’s girlfriend policewoman Mary Hawkins plays a much smaller role. Other new superb characters are added to the series including the scary ‘Hill Brothers’ who make an outstanding first appearance in a little honkytonk bar which is built almost into the woods. I sure would love to visit that place! Although Earl is written in the first person, Rufus is written in the third and the flashbacks to his teenage years were a major highlight of the novel, which also reveals the circumstances in which he was blinded. The vague supernatural touch returns, once again, with the ‘Shadow Girl’ or perhaps she is only a figment of Rufus’s conscience? Echoes of the Fall is an exceptionally well-developed mystery thriller and fans of the previous two novels are going to gobble this book up. Earl Marcus is a brilliant, complex and flawed main character, but due to the circumstances of this novel some readers may lose some sympathy for him, as many of his problems are of his own making. Religion was a major theme in Heaven’s Crooked Finger which also features in this new book, perhaps if Earl is to return for a fourth outing (and I hope he does) it is a subject worth avoiding and the series could do with moving in a fresh direction? It would be nice to see the Earl Marcus books receive a proper release in the UK, they can be bought from Amazon, but at the time of writing they are unavailable on Kindle, which is a great shame. Hank Early is a seriously talented author who also writes as John Mantooth. The styles are so different you would never know it was the same person. I reviewed The Year of the Storm, which was first published in 2013, but rereleased last year: https://gingernutsofhorror.com/fiction-reviews/book-review-the-year-of-the-storm-by-john-mantooth 4.5/5 Tony Jones    Comments are closed.
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