Far Dark Fields

Gary Braunbeck is one of the best writers in the genre...and out of the genre actually. FAR DARK FIELDS moves the C edar Hill universe closer to an ending. A very emotionally draining novel, this one concerns a mass murder and a survivor looking back to try and assuage his guilt for living through it. Another winner from Braunbeck.

Gary Braunbeck is easily one of those authors that I must read the second I get one of his books. His prose is literate without being pretentious or inaccessible, and you feel like you know his characters and live in Cedar Hill yourself. Yes, there are some stories here that have appeared elsewhere, but this is not pure laziness on Braunbeck's part. Rather, it is more like a spider web. You see the individual strands and the outline of the web in his previous works. With Far Dark Fields, it becomes clear that you can see more strands connected to the ones already seen, that those strands are strengthening the overall web. Far Dark Fields has strengthened the story of Cedar Hill and has broadened its scope. It feels like every word written about Cedar Hill has a purpose and that purpose is finally starting to show itself. Highly recommended, along with his other works.

There are only two author's publishing today that can get me to drop whatever I'm doing or make me change my plans when their latest release arrives on my doorstep. Gary Bruanbeck is one of them. There is no other author in my opinion that can tap into a readers own dark fears or confusion and force the reader to confront them... no matter how uncomfortable or horrifying they may be as Braunbeck does, and he does it superbly and without apology. For those Braunbeck fans who have followed along with Gary on his past Cedar Hill novels, Far Dark Fields is the Holy Grail, the one we've all been waiting for. Far Dark Fields is the first volume (of two) in his epic Cedar Hill series that brings the various plotlines and characters from his numerous Cedar Hill novels and short story collections to its conclusion. For new Braunbeck readers, I would point out, that though Far Dark Fields is a continuation of his Cedar Hill novels it is also a stand alone novel that can be enjoyed without having read the previous works. I won't repeat the plot line here in this short review, you can read it in the synopsis above and in the other reviews listed here, but I will ask you this... ...have you ever read a news story or seen one on television about a mass murder, say a shooting spree that was so horrendous you just had to pause and ask yourself...how in God's green earth could anyone do something that horrible? Of course you have, but then did you give it much more thought after that, or did you just go onto the next news story? Did you ever 'really' try to get into the murderers mind and wonder what he was thinking? Did you ever think about what his motivations may have been beyond what the reporters told you? How about the victims? Have you ever put yourself in their shoes? What do you think went through their heads as they were retreating from the gunman in a panic and felt a bullet plunging into thier bodies? What if some of them were caught unawares...what was in their minds in those brief seconds between realization and being gunned down? Did you ever consider the thought process of the victims who might have been brave enough to confront the killer? What were these people thinking as they rushed toward a certain death? And God bless them...how about the relatives and the friends of the ones whose lives were taken? Could you even really know their loneliness, their sadness, or even their anger? And did you ever wonder what it felt like to be a survivor of something like this? Gary Bruanbeck does think of these things. And in Far Dark Fields, these thoughts are just as terrifying as the monster pulling the trigger, the killing itself, and the unseen hand orchestrating the devastation. Don't pass this one up folks.

Originally posted from Dread Central: We live in horrible times. Admit it. Watch the evening news to see tales of random shootings, hate crimes, and people generally behaving like animals without reason. We are also a nation of voyeurs, otherwise, every tragedy that occurs wouldn't be turned into a movie-of-the-week or the latest inspired-by-true-events Oscar-winner. But while the camera lens is focused on the immediate victims and the perpetrator, one question has never really been answered: What about the others, whose lives were touched by the tragedy but didn't wind up a news story because they neither died nor became media whores? It's an interesting position to consider, and one that Gary Braunbeck considers fully in his novel Far Dark Fields. A continuation of stories put into motion in novels such as Mr. Hands and Coffin County, Far Dark Fields follows a high-school English teacher named Geoff Conover, who was only a baby when he became the lone survivor of a brutal massacre (perpetuated by a family member). Now, more than thirty years later, another young man walks into his school and, without warning or reason, opens fire. The gunman turns the gun on himself, but survives in the hospital just long enough to give Conover a final message: "Hoopsticks," the deranged killer that haunts Cedar Hill and the strange area known to locals as "Coffin County." Prompted by the ghosts of those slain by the boy and by the crazed Hoopsticks, Conover returns to Cedar Hill, and walks into pure madness and pain. Braunbeck is at his best in this book, which is the first in a two-part story (the sequel will be released soon). His settings are fully realized, inviting the reader into the town and making him feel right at home. From the scent of sizzling cheeseburgers on the grill at the diner to the alcohol-soaked air of the local bar, The Hangman, Cedar Hill comes to vivid life, so much so that the reader will feel that, not only is the place real, but after reading this book he'll swear it's somewhere he's been. The characters are so well depicted and developed that Braunbeck pulls off the most difficult of all tasks: emotionally involving the reader in the plot. The scenes of terror are, in fact, terrifying. The points of confusion will have the reader scratching his head right alongside the characters. And there is at least one scene that packs such a powerful punch that if, after reading it, there isn't a lump in your throat and tears in your eyes, you have no soul. In the past, there have been various monikers assigned to Braunbeck. "Up and comer," "heir to the horror throne," etc. With this novel, he is no longer any of these as he shows his mastery of the genre by creating a piece that leaves the reader emotionally wrung-out. As visceral as a heart-beat, as gut-wrenching as a kick to the groin, Far Dark Fields is brilliant.

I heard Gary Braunbeck talking at a convention about this book, and to answer the first reveiwer, this novel is based on Braunbeck's story "Safe", in much the same way that Coffin County was based on his story "Haceldama". Anyhow, "Safe" blew me away when I first read it, but not that many other people have been able to read it because it was in a small press book ... I think only a couple hundred were printed & the books were pretty expensive. Mr. Braunbeck wanted to make his whole Cedar Hill cycle of novels available to his readers and tie the whole story he's been telling together for us -- this seems like a very thoughtful move on Mr. Braunbeck's part and not at all "lazy". So anyway, this is an excellent, gripping novel & anyone who has read & enjoyed Braunbeck's novels in the past will enjoy it ... I guess I would add that if you haven't read his books before, you probably shouldn't start with this one because it does reference things that happened in In Silent Graves, Keepers, Mr. Hands, Coffin County, etc. ... I mean you would still enjoy it, I think, just not as much. But start with In Silent Graves if you're a brand-new reader.