Samuel W. Gailey

The book description really sucked me in. I have been wanting to read it since I read that. Thank you to Goodreads and the author for the opportunity to read this as a Goodreads giveaway winner.

I was wrapped up in the book though that didn’t happen until almost the halfway mark. There is a lot of descriptive writing that leaves little to be imagined. At the same time that descriptive writing allowed you to distinctly hear the major sound of the book. Sorry to be a little vague but I’d rather you read the book. There were three places where the plot did not hold up for me. One had to do with a death, the others with Alice. I really liked Alice. I could form a fairly accurate idea of who she is, which is where the two breaks from the story come in. Despite these three spots, (two get addressed though, for me, not satisfactorily), I was still invested in the story I was being told. I did like the ending. I would have liked to know more about Elton and Delilah though.
I am interested in reading another book by this author.

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The Guilt We carry is a novel centering on Alice O'Farrell an all American girl. She is the star of the swim team and driven succeed. She seeks and is given responsibility at home. At fifteen her parents allow her to babysit her brother. It goes well and she again watches him again and in an almost impossible chain of events ends in tragedy. Alice is unable to face her parents and shortly afterward runs away. She is drawn into a world where she lives day to day at the bottom rungs of society. She avoids drugs and prostitution but turns to alcohol and bartending in strip clubs. At fifteen, Alice avoids most of the snags that people hiding fall victim to. She has no drivers license or credit cards and can become essentially invisible.

Alice is betrayed by her latest employer and is on the run again. Unfortunately, there is a pile of bodies left behind and Alice is hunted by drug dealers. Her escape will create a reluctant friendship and rekindle another. She will learn about guilt and not just her guilt. The darker elements of the story seem very deep but there is a glimmer of hope and freedom. Alice just must find her way to it and avoid the quick fixes that hide the symptoms rather than the address the cure.

The characters are well developed and provide a variety of personas and several carry their own type of guilt as most people do. The settings vary from urban Harrisburg to rural North Carolina and bring with its own set of difficulties and prejudices.… (plus d'informations)

Deep Winter: A Novel by Samuel W. Gailey is a small town murder story. Gailey is from rural Pennsylvania and earned his Bachelor's degree in English Literature. His previous work was the indie comic book Sanctum. He currently lives with his wife and daughter in Los Angles.

Rural Pennsylvania in the 1980s has always had some secrets; now it has a murder. Wyalusing is like many small towns. Everyone knows everyone and no one really changes. The story centers around Danny. Danny nearly drowned as a youth after falling through the ice in a pond. That event changed him. The lack of oxygen affected his development and he grew physically but not mentally. Most of the town's people avoid the two hundred and fifty pound Danny. Despite his size, Danny is a kind and gentle. Some people have tormented him since childhood, including the town's deputy. Mindy, a childhood friend who shares the same birthday with him is his only friend. Danny decides to visit Mindy on her birthday to give her a hand carved robin. Upon reaching her trailer he finds her naked and in a twisted heap on the floor. This is where the story begins.

Contemporary fiction is a hit but mostly a miss with me. My usual tastes run toward darker, underground fiction of the the 1970s. The “Rural Noir” tag for this book caught my attention. Not so much the rural, but the noir. Deep Winter captures the every bit of the darkness of a Selby Jr, novel and relocates it in rural Pennsylvania . Usually its the big, unknown, bleak city that sets the tone. Here in the rural Pennsylvania it is almost a claustrophobic effect. You almost feel trapped inside the town. With the exception of the state trooper, it seems that everyone in the town has always been there. No one has left and no one new has come in.

I will put Deep Winter in the hit category. The reading was quick and the pace of the story was steady and easy to follow. The story telling shifts between the main players and the story is told from their view point. Everyone has something to hide either in their past or the present. The characters, love them or hate them, are very real and very well developed. The plot is also very well developed and flows extremely well. Although, you hope things will work out well, you never can predict how things will work out or even if they will work out. Deep Winter is an exciting, fast paced novel with plenty to offer in the way of suspense. Highly recommended for crime novel fans and those who like a darker, real world story.
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