{"id":220,"date":"2017-07-03T12:56:43","date_gmt":"2017-07-03T12:56:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.joelhamesauthor.com\/?page_id=220"},"modified":"2017-07-03T12:59:55","modified_gmt":"2017-07-03T12:59:55","slug":"deep-down-dead-steph-broadribb","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.joelhamesauthor.com\/?page_id=220","title":{"rendered":"Deep Down Dead – Steph Broadribb"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Deep Down Dead – Steph Broadribb, Orenda Books, 2016<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a while since I read a book built on pure tension. And it\u2019s been longer still since I read one that pulled it off. Deep Down Dead pulls it off brilliantly.<\/p>\n

Based in the deep South, the settings inject a sense of claustrophobia that has nothing to do with an actual lack of space and everything to do with a feeling that we\u2019re being taken somewhere whether we want to or not, that the die is cast and there\u2019s no getting off. Every motel, every bar, every run-down farmhouse, every downtown street corner, every creek and swamp and wide-open road combines to squeeze everything down and build that tension until it\u2019s got to explode. This might be Florida \u2013 among other states, and complete with the gators and the heat \u2013 but it sure as hell isn\u2019t Disney World.
\nThe story is told in the first person, with our heroine Lori drawn swiftly into a nightmare that threatens everything she cares about and that she doesn\u2019t understand any more than the reader does. The narration itself is perfect, an idiomatic southern style that sets up Lori and her world more effectively than a hundred pages of explanation might have done. And that\u2019s doubly good because there\u2019s no room in here to get bogged down in history. The back story only appears when it has to, and when it comes, it comes fast, sneaking in, a quick one-two to the ribs and out again. The pace doesn\u2019t let up for a second \u2013 Lori doesn\u2019t have time to rest, and neither does the reader. <\/p>\n

Twenty-five years ago I read Tough Guys Don\u2019t Dance, and ever since I\u2019ve been looking for a book that uses place and plot, confusion and tension as well as Mailer did. With Deep Down Dead, I think I\u2019ve finally found it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Deep Down Dead – Steph Broadribb, Orenda Books, 2016 It\u2019s been a while since I read a book built on pure tension. And it\u2019s been longer still since I read one that pulled it off. Deep Down Dead pulls it off brilliantly. Based in the deep South, the settings inject\u2026 Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-220","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P6jnN2-3y","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joelhamesauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joelhamesauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joelhamesauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joelhamesauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joelhamesauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=220"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.joelhamesauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":226,"href":"https:\/\/www.joelhamesauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/220\/revisions\/226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joelhamesauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}