Shifty's Boys

Chris Offutt is a literary master across genres, and his most recent novel THE KILLING HILLS was one of his most successful, earning him a new audience and earning praise from the likes of The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Crime Reads. His latest book, Shifty's Boys, is a compelling, propulsive thriller of murder and mayhem in the hills of eastern Kentucky.

Mick Hardin is home on leave, recovering from an IED attack, when a body is found in the center of town. It's Barney Kissick, the local heroin dealer, and the city police see it as an occupational hazard. But when Barney's mother, Shifty, asks Mick to take a look, it seems there's more to the killing than it seems. Mick should be rehabbing his leg, signing his divorce papers, and getting out of town-and most of all, staying out of the way of his sister Linda's reelection as Sheriff-but he keeps on looking, and suddenly he's getting shot at himself.

A dark, pacy crime novel about grief and revenge, and the surprises hidden below the surface, Shifty's Boys is a tour de force that confirms Chris Offutt's Mick Hardin as one of the most appealing new investigators in fiction.

Praise for The Killing Hills

Summer Reading List 2021, Deep South Magazine

A Times [UK] Crime Club Pick of the Week

A Times [UK] Best New Thriller for November 2021

"Sense of place also steams off the pages of The Killing Hills . . . Pitch-perfect in its tone and dialogue, if more interested in mood than in the business of plot, this is what Jack Reacher wants to be when it grows up." –James Owen, The Times [UK]

"The fine dark art of the noir simile springs from the amoral beauty of the Icelandic sagas, flows forward in time through the savant, poetic solecisms of Raymond Chandler, and drains into the rich, black soil of Chris Offutt's high holler novels . . . The Killing Hills is vividly evocative . . . A riveting, page-turning package."-Literary Hub

"[A] work of rural noir whose characters' singular codes lead to constant surprises."-Wall Street Journal

"True page-turner." -Caroline Leavitt, AARP ("5 Gripping New Thrillers")

"The Killing Hills is a potent mix of magnificent prose and uncompromising honesty. It has the resonance of a murder ballad and the deeply existential themes of an epic poem. Its voice will linger in your mind long after the final page is turned."-S.A. Cosby, author of Blacktop Wasteland

"A story full of feuds, rivalries, and crimes hiding in plain sight, The Killing Hills is as poignant and powerful as they come."-CrimeReads

"Few writers today can boast of a body of work as wide-ranging and virtuosic as Offutt's. His novels and short stories bend genres and upend expectations . . . In all of his work, Offutt combines literary artistry with narrative momentum. The Killing Hills is no exception: A taut, gripping thriller, it also draws us deep into the lives of its troubled characters with wit, compassion, and insight . . . The same knack for propulsion, characterization, and snappy dialogue that made Chris Offutt a natural for Hollywood are on ample display in The Killing Hills. The sentences and chapters are crisp and crackling, the mood and tone dark and ominous but not devoid of humor. Put simply, the man knows how to keep the pages turning . . . The result is a novel that, like fine Kentucky bourbon, goes down easy and leaves a long, lingering burn."-Ed Tarkington, Chapter 16

"What matters is how Offutt tells the tale, and it is done masterfully. . . . He cares about people, even ones who are damned to make terrible decisions, and does not inflict a fatalistic vision of the world upon us. . . . The deck is stacked, but it's in the nature of people to try anyway, damnation be damned. That's what we have in The Killing Hills, and it makes for a very entertaining read that will stay with you. I look forward to returning to these hills, or if not, at least to whatever Chris Offutt writes next." -​Vautrin

"Everyone should be reading Chris Offutt."-Garth Greenwell

"Dark, but deeply humane. The love in this book is deep and powerful. And winsome twinkles shine through the blackness throughout, thanks in no small part to Offutt's keen ear and eye."-Smith Henderson, New York Times

"Offutt impressively inhabits this impoverished, fiercely private world without condescension or romance, fashioning a lean, atmospheric story that moves fluidly between the extremes of violence and love . . . Offutt is such a measured and unexcitable stylist that the story never wallows in the grotesque . . . [A] fine homage to a pocket of the country that's as beautiful as it is prone to tragedy."-Wall Street Journal

"Offutt's spare prose throws the life - and lives - of a tightly knit Eastern Kentucky community into sharp relief."-Daneet Steffens, Boston Globe

"Offutt captures the nuances of those who call this part of eastern Kentucky home . . . Crisp dialogue, bits of humor, an evocative look at the region and a stalwart hero elevate The Killing Hills."-Oline H. Cogdill, South Florida Sun Sentinel

Praise for Country Dark

"Chris Offutt's work about mountain life earns high praise from other writers, and Country Dark, his return to fiction, is entirely welcome and a pleasure all around.…Offutt writes so well, with such deep knowledge of the language and people, that Country Dark is likely to be read straight through, no resting places."-Daniel Woodrell, author of Winter's Bone

"Country Dark is such a strong work, one hopes we won't have to wait nearly as long for additional fiction from his pen . . . Offutt's prose is sharp and the noir tone of the book never wavers. Even more importantly, his dialogue, shaped by the dialect of the region, rings true. Country Dark may read like a mythical epic, but its characters feel wholly real."-Cedar Rapids Gazette

"[Chris Offutt] writes so well and knows the people and places he writes about . . . [and] he has the ability to enter the minds of his characters. Country Dark is a heart-wrenching story of a man who is caught between violence and his love. It is the story of a man who knows how to use violence to protect his love and dignity. This is one of those stay-up-all-night novels we all yearn for."-Washington Book Review

"Like the late, great Larry Brown and the late, great William Gay, Chris Offutt delivers a hardscrabble, mythic South with a laconic voice that turns sly to describe the follies of Man . . . Country Dark is a smart, rich country noir."-Stewart O'Nan, author of Henry, Himself

"If Tucker is a man of few words neither are there wasted words in Chris Offutt's bang-bang second novel, Country Dark . . . [Offutt is] a refined, versatile writer, sometimes impish, always ecumenical, never snobbish . . . He scatters little halos of earthy metaphor … locates dark prophecy in shades of detail . . . [and] has a great ear for humorous rural chatter."-Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"There are very few things that are worth waiting for . . . Let us add new fiction from author Chris Offutt to that short list . . . Country Dark is exquisitely plotted and wonderfully told . . . This is one of those books that reminds us why we constantly read, which is the hope of discovering a work such as this that succeeds on all imaginable levels as well as a few unexpected ones."-Book Reporter

"It's been nearly 20 years since Offutt's Out of the Woods (1999), and his return to fiction will be celebrated by all readers of country noir . . . Tucker is a true existential hero, facing his circumscribed world directly and acting with unflinching determination. His story, like the work of Daniel Woodrell, is both heartrendingly painful and unsentimentally uplifting."-Booklist

"A lean, mean meditation on family, boundaries, and what a good man will do to protect the ones he loves. In this blood-and whiskey-soaked landscape, I'm reminded of both Faulkner and Steve Earle. A morality tale where grit and heart hold equal weight."-Ace Atkins, author of The Revelators

"Country Dark is a taut, well-constructed novel easily consumed in one sitting."-Shelf Awareness

"Chris Offutt has crafted a whole new kind of book-steeped in elements of noir and rich cinematic devices-brimming with characters that are simultaneously realistic while also mythical in the best, bigger-than-real-life kind of way. Country Dark is a perfect balance of wonderful language and pulsing action. I couldn't put it down."-Silas House, author of Southernmost

"I've waited nearly twenty years for another novel by Chris Offutt, and boy is Country Dark worth it! From its excellent title to its last page, this one will pull you in and immerse you in the lives of its myriad characters . . . Offutt is a terrific writer with impressive range."-Thomas Franklin, author of Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter

"Country Dark is grim and funny and touching. It's a crime story, a novel of backwoods manners, and a family saga. It's many things at once, all of them great. Masterful descriptions of the natural world bump up against scenes of shocking violence, and you're left in awe, wondering how the hell Chris Offutt managed to pull this book off."-Richard Lange, author of The Smack

"In Offutt's first work of fiction since 1997's The Good Brother, the award-winning author delivers a rich, compelling story of hardscrabble Kentucky mountain life while showing deep empathy for his careworn characters."-Library Journal (starred review)

"A Southern gothic story . . . Offutt has a fine ear for Kentucky-speak . . . that capture[s] the rhythms of rural conversation . . . Tucker is a knotty and complex character . . . A compelling and brooding read."-Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Offutt's exceptional new novel (following his memoir My Father, the Pornographer) brings to light with gritty, heartfelt precision what one character, a social worker, calls the ‘two Kentuckys, east and west, dirt and blacktop.' . . . Offutt's prose cuts deep and sharp . . . An undeniable testament to the importance and clarity of Offutt's voice in contemporary American literature."-Publishers Weekly

"[Offutt's] bleak, savage depictions of rural down-and-outers combine the literary style of James Dickey with the noir chops of Daniel Woodrell. He has a well-deserved reputation as a writer's writer. . . Tense and atmospheric, Country Dark is firmly rooted in time and place, with the verisimilitude expected from a writer who has made the shadowy hills of Kentucky his own."-BookPage

"In this, his seventh book, Offutt (Country Dark, 2018) captures the nuances of those who call this part of Eastern Kentucky home, their dislike of strangers, their resilience and their tendency to take the law into their own hands. His work is marked by crisp dialogue, bits of humor, an evocative look at the region and a stalwart hero." -Oline H. Cogdill, Virginian-Pilot