A Single Shot

A SINGLE SHOT is a uncompromising masterpiece of noir fiction. The entire story takes place over a week's time, with each chapter a day of the week, beginning with the morning that John Moon accidentally shoots and kills a girl for the deer he was poaching. As John wrestles with his guilt while trying to unravel who the girl is and what she was doing with a hundred thousand dollars in the middle of the woods the story grows increasingly intense, until it is almost impossible to turn away from even while holding your breath in anticipation of what is to come next. The vernacular of upstate rural New York is pitch perfect, and the descriptions of nature place the reader squarely in John's world. The book is both a tense, pulse heightening noir thriller and a tremendously well-written, wrenching character portrayal of a normal man derailed by a split second decision.

In this terrifying story impossible to look away from the backwoods world of John Moon comes to life with stunning physical descriptions, spot on dialogue, details so exacting each word seems almost palpable, and a pulse-pounding plot involving some of the most authentic-feeling bad men ever put to page. The story takes place over the span of seven short days, winding tighter and tighter around the hapless Moon as he tries to undo or somehow correct a split-second early in the book in which he has accidentally shot a teenage girl dead for a deer. In not an easy literary task Jones manages to make us truly understand Moon and sympathize with him in his harrowing plight - a plight that ends shockingly in the woods near where it started. Certainly one of the best, and most shamefully overlooked, literary thrillers of the last several years.

In this day and age of derivative stories and derivative storytellers what a pleasure to come across a book so unique and an author so distinct and above the fray. This was one of the best novels dealing with the theme of guilt I've come across. At the same time it was much more than that - a great character study, a mystery, even a love story of a gruesome sort. A hell of a thrilling read that will take you deep into a world you'll likely be glad you don't live in and one I guarantee you won't soon forget. Really good stuff.

I can't believe I hadn't heard of this author before a friend convinced me to read A SINGLE SHOT. The book is a masterpiece, one of those rare novels that stays in your head weeks after you've finished it. I put it down while reading it only to occasionally remind myself that what was happening in it wasn't happening in fact or to marvel at Jones's incredible ability to create taut scenes and real characters. I actually read the book twice and liked it even more the second time. This book, and author, I predict, will be read for years to come. Mr. Jones, more please!

I still haven't got John Moon or his unraveling out of my head. SHOT is taut and edgy with real characters you can care about. The L.A. Times Book Review was right on - the finest portrait of guilt since CRIME AND PUNISHMENT. The best novel I've come across in a long while.