"'You set yourself up as judge, jury, and executioner, ' Pamela had
said, but that was wrong: you set yourself up as angel, and await
the word of God."
Luther Redding lost his job, and almost lost his wife, Pamela, and
teenaged daughters Katie and Lucy, when the real estate bubble
burst in Florida. Now he pilots a Reaper drone over the mountains
of Afghanistan from a command center in the bowels of Tampa's
MacDill Air Force Base, studying a target's pattern of life and
awaiting the command to end that life. Meanwhile Bobby Rosen has
returned home from his tours in Iraq to a broken marriage and an
estranged son, his promising military career cut short in a moment
of terrible violence in a Sadr City marketplace. As the tales of
Luther and Bobby unfold, Mark Powell masterfully engages with the
vexing, bifurcated lives of combatants in the global war on terror,
those who are simultaneously here and there and thus never fully
freed from the life-and-death chaos of the battlefield.
As Bobby sets off on a drug-fueled road trip with his brother
Donny, newly released from prison and consumed by his own
inescapable impulses, a sudden death in the Redding household sends
Luther's daughter Katie spiraling into grief and self-destruction.
Soon the lives of the Reddings and the Rosens intersect as the
collateral damage from the war on terror sends these families into
a rapid descent of violence and moral ambiguity that seems
hauntingly familiar to Bobby while placing Katie in a position much
like her father's--more removed witness than active participant in
the bloody war unfolding in front of her. Overarching questions of
faith and redemption clash with the rough-hewn realities of terror
and loss, all to explosive ends in Powell's dark vision of modern
Americana.
Novelist Ron Rash has deemed Powell "the best Appalachian novelist
of his generation." In this, his fourth novel, Powell broadens the
southern backdrop of his earlier work into a sprawling thriller
taking readers from the Middle East to Charleston, southern
Georgia, Tampa, Miami, New Orleans, and into the storied American
West. In its themes, perspectives, and pacing, The Sheltering
recalls the work of Robert Stone, Jim Harrison, and Ben Fountain
while further establishing Powell as a unique voice capable of
interrogating unfathomable truths with a beauty and cohesion of
language that challenges our assumptions of the human spirit.
General
Imprint: |
University of South Carolina Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Series: |
Story River Books |
Release date: |
August 2014 |
First published: |
August 2014 |
Authors: |
Mark Powell
|
Foreword by: |
Pat Conroy
|
Dimensions: |
229 x 152 x 28mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Hardcover - Cloth over boards
|
Pages: |
296 |
ISBN-13: |
978-1-61117-434-2 |
Categories: |
Books >
Fiction >
Genre fiction >
Adventure / thriller >
General
|
LSN: |
1-61117-434-1 |
Barcode: |
9781611174342 |
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