Dog Rose Dirt

Jen Williams is better known for her fantasy work, and her Ninth Rain books are a genuine five star epic that come highly recommended. This one marks a new direction, set in our here and now and sitting somewhere between crime and horror. The move towards realism doesn't hurt the book, it's fast paced and the pages keep turning. The main character is relatable, and the setup is intriguing, giving rise to some genuinely nasty scenes. My main grumble is that the book just isn't long enough. The end comes quickly, and I would have liked it to run a bit longer with more of the backstory filled in. There's a folk horror undercurrent throughout, around ideas of sacrifice, myth and the land, that isn't quite teased out in the space available. It's a very good readable dark thriller, but it just misses being the landmark it could have been.