Echoes of the Fall by Hank Early

Genre: mystery

Publisher: Crooked Lane books

Publication Date: November 12, 2019

Blurb

“Earl Marcus has faced a litany of demons in his time, but a grisly murder sends him spiraling into a vortex of long-buried secrets.

“After losing a hotly contested sheriff’s race to the lackey of corrupt politician Jeb Walsh, Earl Marcus has had the worst summer of his life. But worst turns deadly when a body turns up on Earl’s front lawn, accompanied by a cryptic letter.

“Earl finds a cell phone in the victim’s car and tracks it to The Harden School, an old, isolated campus surrounded by barbed wire and locked gates, and catches a sneak peek at a file labeled complaints, where he finds a familiar name: Jeb Walsh. Jeb’s ex-wife Eleanor had lodged multiple complaints against the school on behalf of her son, and when he contacts Eleanor, the horrifying truth begins to emerge.

“Desperate to make a connection between the school and the dead man, Earl journeys into a world where nothing is sacred.” (From Goodreads)

My thoughts

This is book 3 in the Earl Marcus series set in the Georgia mountains. It can easily be read as a standalone.

While it took me a while to warm up to Echoes of the Fall, once engaged in the story, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Earl Marcus is a man who can’t outrun his past. But boy, does he try.

The voice

Earl, as narrator, as a terrific voice. He often sounds homey and backwoods: not in the “uneducated hick” sense, but in the sense of the old spirituals, with their aching sadness and longing for something beyond this temporal life on earth. Religious ideology (or in some cases, idolatry!) imbues the narrative.

This may be a turn-off for some. But I live in a nearby area of the South and I can tell you, you don’t understand the rural U.S. Bible Belt if you don’t understand that religion and culture are woven together. It’s not necessarily good or bad; it just is what it is.

Grappling with faith

Every character in this book grapples with faith. What is it? Who or what is it placed in?

A religious system or cult-like figure like what Earl and his blind friend Rufus have rejected when they rejected Earl’s father’s version of Christianity?
A legend, like the one told about two Indians leaping across an impossible chasm?
A system of rules that distorts sexuality and conflates it with power rather than love, like the authorities at the Harden School have?
An absolute nothingness and faith only in unending despair and meaninglessness like the mysterious Hill brothers?
Or even just faith that being oneself is possible . . . to watch the moon as myself, as one character puts it?

This wrestling strengthens and deepens the narrative. This book could be merely a backwoods P.I. tale with local color. But this spiritual aspect adds dimension and depth to it.

Tough love buddies

Rufus and Ronnie, as Earl’s buddies, show what true friendship is. They are loyal, tough love type of guys who join together to kick Earl out of his self-imposed drunken stupor/stupidity. They do this despite their differences and alleged “hatred” for each other. Both are interesting individuals that feel complex and deep. Rufus is blind (we find out why late in the book) but manages to get around the mountain. Ronnie is a former inmate who went to jail for Earl in a previous novel. I see a lot of future stories developing from both men’s characters as they interact.

Weaker antagonists

There are a few things that detracted from the tale.

The main female antagonist came across as a bit flat. I never found a compelling motivation for her evil doing. She seemed like a backwoods femme fatale.

The other antagonists (such as the authorities at the Harden School) also feel like by-the-book villains. Given that Early developed such interesting and complex “good guys,” it’s a shame that the antagonists fell flat.

(In Echoes of the Fall, Jeb Walsh didn’t make an appearance enough for me to see how much his character is developed. I think previous books may have had more Jeb-moments. I was intrigued by his ex-wife, though, as she’s definitely not what I–or Earl, apparently–expected. I’d really like to see her and their son make appearances in future Earl Marcus novels.)

Some unbelievable moments

There were also moments that didn’t feel believable. For example, Earl often muses about spiritual things, which I enjoy, but I find it hard to believe that he would be doing so during moments of physical peril. Once, I might believe. But it seemed to happen multiple times throughout one particularly harrowing scene on the face of a cliff, which seemed a bit much.

There was also a lengthy conversation between Earl and an antagonist when both are in immediate danger of death. This, too, seemed a bit hard to believe.

Twists and red herrings

There are plenty of terrific twists, including a few that I didn’t see coming. When I realized I’d fallen for one of the main red herrings, I was kicking myself and mentally congratulating Early for effectively fooling me.

Read this?

Yes. It’s enjoyable and thought-provoking.

(I received a copy of Echoes of the Fall from Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books in exchange for an honest review.)

Echoes of the Fall by Hank Early