Tim Johnston

A Breakout NEW YORK TIMES Bestseller A USA Today Bestseller An Indie National Bestseller “Outstanding . . . The days when you had to choose between a great story and a great piece of writing? Gone.” —Esquire “The story unfolds brilliantly, always surprisingly . . . The magic of his prose equals the horror of Johnston’s story; each somehow enhances the other . . . Read this astonishing novel.” —The Washington Post “Tim Johnston’s high-wire literary thriller . . . will leave you gasping.” —Vanity Fair “A riveting literary thriller of the can’t-stop-turning-the-page, stay-up-all-night variety.” —Alice LaPlante, author of A Circle of Wives The Rocky Mountains have cast their spell over the Courtlands, a young family from the plains taking a last summer vacation before their daughter begins college. For eighteen-year-old Caitlin, the mountains loom as the ultimate test of her runner’s heart, while her parents hope that so much beauty, so much grandeur, will somehow repair a damaged marriage. But when Caitlin and her younger brother, Sean, go out for an early morning run and only Sean returns, the mountains become as terrifying as they are majestic, as suddenly this family find themselves living the kind of nightmare they’ve only read about in headlines or seen on TV. As their world comes undone, the Courtlands are drawn into a vortex of dread and recrimination. Why weren’t they more careful? What has happened to their daughter? Is she alive? Will they ever know? Caitlin’s disappearance, all the more devastating for its mystery, is the beginning of the family’s harrowing journey down increasingly divergent and solitary paths until all that continues to bind them together are the questions they can never bring themselves to ask: At what point does a family stop searching? At what point will a girl stop fighting for her life? Written with a precision that captures every emotion, every moment of fear, as each member of the family searches for answers, Descent is a perfectly crafted thriller that races like an avalanche toward its heart-pounding conclusion, and heralds the arrival of a master storyteller.

A Novel

Descent

"A first-rate thriller . . . Past and present merge in The Current, Tim Johnston's atmospheric, exquisitely suspenseful novel of two murders separated by ten years." —The Washington Post “Gripping . . . Johnston’s masterful novel is worth lingering over—it soars above the constraints of a traditional thriller and pulls you deep into the secrets of a grief-stricken town.” —People Tim Johnston, whose breakout debut Descent was called “astonishing,” “dazzling,” and “unforgettable” by critics, returns with The Current, a tour de force about the indelible impact of a crime on the lives of innocent people. In the dead of winter, outside a small Minnesota town, state troopers pull two young women and their car from the icy Black Root River. One is found downriver, drowned, while the other is found at the scene—half frozen but alive. What happened was no accident, and news of the crime awakens the community’s memories of another young woman who lost her life in the same river ten years earlier, and whose killer may still live among them. Determined to find answers, the surviving young woman soon realizes that she’s connected to the earlier unsolved case by more than just a river, and the deeper she plunges into her own investigation, the closer she comes to dangerous truths, and to the violence that simmers just below the surface of her hometown. Grief, suspicion, the innocent and the guilty—all stir to life in this cold northern town where a young woman can come home, but still not be safe. Brilliantly plotted and unrelentingly propulsive, The Current is a beautifully realized story about the fragility of life, the power of the past, and the need, always, to fight back.

The Current

"The actions of two young working men with secrets ignite the passions and violence of a small Wisconsin town still haunted by the unsolved disappearance of three boys in the 1970s"--

Distant Sons

Coborarea

Il sole sta ancora risalendo il versante opposto dei monti e il paese aspetta in un freddo lago d’ombra, quando Caitlin e Sean si avventurano in bicicletta lungo i sentieri che si inerpicano sulle Montagne Rocciose, in Colorado. Lei, diciottenne, ammessa al college per meriti sportivi, una ragazza atletica, disinvolta con la sua canottiera bianca, i pantaloncini bianchi con la scritta «badgers» in rosso e le Adidas bianche e rosa ai piedi. Lui, quindicenne, impacciato sulla sua mountain bike presa a noleggio, l’aria di chi si sforza di non apparire un ciccione disperato e ansante. Un fratello e una sorella, che saltellano tra i pioppi dei boschi e su strade sterrate odoranti di resina e di aghi secchi e bruni. Poco prima di un incrocio, i due ragazzi odono dapprima un rumore assordante di musica, poi scorgono uno strano veicolo, tutto riflessi di sole e pulsare di bassi. Dal finestrino il conducente fissa su di loro le sue lenti gialle per un lungo momento, poi il veicolo prosegue e, scollinando, scompare alla vista. Caitlin affronta decisa la strada, e l’ultima immagine che Sean ha della sorella è quella di una creatura gelida ed evanescente attorno a cui l’aria si raffredda e le foglie dei pioppi ingialliscono e cadono. Qualche tempo dopo una telefonata raggiunge Grant e Angela Courtland, i genitori dei ragazzi, nella stanza del motel in cui soggiornano. Dalla voce dello sceriffo della contea i due apprendono che Sean è ricoverato nell’ospedale della cittadina - non è in pericolo di vita, ma ha una gamba ridotta male - e che non vi è alcuna traccia di Caitlin. La ragazza sembra scomparsa nel nulla. I giorni dei Coultard diventano settimane e le settimane mesi nella vana ricerca di Caitlin. Angela ritorna nel Wisconsin portando con sé il figlio convalescente e profondamente segnato dall’accaduto. Grant si ritrova così solo, ospite del vecchio padre dello sceriffo e del giovane, indisponente fratello di quest’ultimo, tra montagne ignote, sconfinate e senza pietà, dove spera ancora di trovare, viva, la sua amata figlia. Vincitore di numerosi premi, Tim Johnston ha scritto un «thriller letterario mozzafiato» (Vanity Fair). Un romanzo «impossibile da dimenticare» (David Sedaris) sulla violenza che si annida negli angoli bui delle nostre vite. «Un thriller letterario ad alta tensione che vi lascerà senza fiato». Vanity Fair «Un’opera notevole... I giorni in cui si doveva scegliere tra una grande storia e una bella scrittura sono finiti». Esquire

Scomparsa

OC ItOCOs dark in here, but brilliant. Tim Johnston is as wise as he is original, and his stories are impossible to forget.OCOOCoDavid Sedaris Includes stories of loss, absence, and the devastating effects of chance - of what happens when the unthinkable bad luck of other people, of other towns, becomes our bad luck, our town. This is white-knuckle prose; it means what it says and it says what it means. Not that I count words, but when an image can be etched in fewer than ten, I sit up and take notice. When an image is limned in fewer than five words, I pretty near shiver. The stories in Irish Girl provide more shiver per page than most stories provide in twenty.OCoJanet Peery, judge and author of The River Beyond the World"

Irish Girl

Robert Knoth

Antoinette de Jong

In the 21st century, globalization has opened up the world for better and for worse. While we all welcome the virtues and advantages of an open society, Poppy tells a different story : of a world facing destabilization as a result of multiple threats. Drugs, armed conflict, transnational crime, corruption, chronic poverty, and the spread of HIV/AIDS ; Poppy shows how closely they are all intertwined.

Trails of Afghan Heroin

Poppy

You have to read closely so as not to miss significant clues in these tightly coiled stories by Katherine Anne Porter Prize-winner Johnston (Never So Green), who ventures deeply into the consciousness of Midwesterners to unearth old tensions and buried animosities. In Water, he balances a marvelously multilayered plot involving a widowed mother of now grown twin boys (one healthy, one not) who recognizes how her protectiveness of her sons--even if one commits a horrible crime--supersedes the ties she holds to her past. Dirt Men finds Buddy Jr., the son of a local excavating entrepreneur, returned home in disgrace from the Colorado college where he was teaching and trapped within the intersection of his past and his hubris when the dismembered body of a woman is found in an auto salvage lot. In Things Go Missing, Johnston enters the mind of a young woman burglar whose seemingly senseless thefts (such as her shrink's autographed Michael Jordan poster) allows her to connect finally with someone, despite the pain she inflicts. These beautifully rendered tales deliver an emotional wallop.

Stories

Privelistile ametitoare ale Muntilor Stâncosi îsi dezvaluie partea întunecata si mortala în acest thriller desavârsit despre legaturile de familie si lupta pentru supravietuire. Muntii Stâncosi i-au fermecat dintotdeauna pe membrii familiei Courtland, care pleaca într-o vacanta înainte ca fiica lor sa înceapa facultatea. Dar atunci când Caitlin si fratele ei mai mic, Sean, ies la o alergare matinala si doar Sean se întoarce, muntii devin tot atât de înspaimântatori pe cât sunt de maiestuosi. Scris cu o precizie care surprinde fara gres gândurile, emotiile si spaimele traite, pe masura ce fiecare membru al familiei cauta raspunsuri, Coborârea este un roman de suspans care îsi tine cititorii cu sufletul la gura pâna la ultima fila. „Cititi acest roman uimitor. Proza lui Johnston este pe cât de terifianta, pe atât de fascinanta.“ The Washington Post „Un thriller impresionant – un melanj de emotie si literatura. Coborârea nu este doar un roman de suspans, este o poveste emotionanta despre rau, frica, acceptare si ironia sortii.“ Denver Post „Acest roman izbuteste sa ramâna în memoria cititorului prin forta personajelor sale, abundenta detaliilor si stilul lipsit de ornamente, precum si gratie îndraznelii autorului de a sonda ca un expert rezistenta umana – fizica si psihologica.“ Miami Herald „Un thriller original si cu profunde valente psihologice.“ Outside

Coborârea

KDYŽ VÁM UNESOU DCERU, NENÍ TO ŽÁDNÝ THRILLER! Pobyt ve Skalistých horách má být pro Courtlandovy poslední rodinnou dovolenou, než jejich dcera nastoupí na sportovní vysokou školu. Zatímco osmnáctiletá Caitlin si chce především otestovat běžeckou kondici v náročném terénu, její rodiče doufají, že mimořádně krásné horské prostředí pomůže zažehnat dlouhotrvající manželskou krizi. Ale když si jde Caitlin se svým mladším bratrem časně ráno zaběhat a později je za dramatických okolností v kopcích nalezen pouze Sean, ukáže horská krajina svou mnohem děsivější tvář. Dívčino zmizení, záhadné a o to trýznivější, rozděluje cesty jednotlivých členů rodiny, z nichž každý určitým způsobem přebírá odpovědnost za to, co se stalo. Neutuchající naději ztělesňuje otec Grant, který své pátrání nevzdává a věří, že jeho dcera je stále naživu. Kdy ale přestane hledat i on? THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!

Tim Johnston

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