Set in the 1950’s in the rural mountains of North Carolina, Taylor Brown brings to life a gritty, dark southern drama complete with bootlegging, murder and mystery. The characters are tough and difficult to like.

Rory Docherty is a veteran of the Korean War who made it home with a wooden foot. He suffers from PTSD and lives his life on the edge as a bootlegger. His hobby is fast cars and drag racing.

Rory lives with his grandmother, Granny May, a former prostitute who is known for her home remedies of herbs and poultices. She is also the keeper of many secrets.

Bonni, Rory’s mother and daughter to Granny May, has been confined to a mental hospital and does not speak. She is very much a part of the story, in spite of her silence and years of separation from the mountain and her family.

It seems much of the story revolves around Bonni and the mystery of what happened to cause her to lose her voice. I loved the flashbacks of Bonni and Connor, as it was Bonni’s only voice in the story, other than her drawings.

The story does include violence, racing, snake handling and some sexual content. It was a bit too dark for my preference, but definitely fit the setting and the characters involved.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday Books, Doubleday for providing me with an advance copy.

Hoo whee this was a wild ride of a book. Up and down the mountain, roundabout and back again.

Have to say the story didn't suck me in right at the beginning, it was a slow burn but a good one. Good action, great ending. Nice suspense throughout. Dark, dank, dirty, and dastardly.

A rare page turner.

The 1950's in the mountains of South Carolina are a difficult place to live. This is the story of one families struggle to survive, through all means possible. The bootlegging seems more normal than the cult-like church in town. The way that Taylor Brown describes life seems accurate, however, parts seemed unrealistic to me and could have been left out.

I would like to thank the author and Net Galley for the ARC and the opportunity to read this book.

Wow oh Wow.. What a story…. I loved this book!!! The writing was superb and the story was told well. This book is set in the 1950’s in the mountains of North Carolina. Prohibition has set in, and the black market for alcohol was delivered by fast cars, rough rides, and bad cops. I so enjoyed this book, I was immediately won over by Rory, a war veteran who lost his leg in the Korean War and lives with his grandmother. Granny May is a gem, gun toting, pipe smoking, taunted as an outcast because of her “herb” remedies and her past way of life. She is the most enlightening character who won my heart.
This book had me out right laughing sometimes, and during the day I would smile and chuckle to myself just thinking about what I had read earlier. I even book marked a few of Granny May’s quips on my Kindle to tell my husband about later. It covers fast cars, even explains what is under the hood, how they were built and is so descriptive that you can hear them rumble and envision a race down the back roads. You’ve got good guys, bad guys, fed’s, revenuers and even a snake handling preacher. Rory, Eli and Granny May are characters I will not forget. Yes, there is some sexual content but I did not find it offensive or out of line.
I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in reliving the North Carolina mountain country in the 1950’s. The beginning of Nascar started here.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an E-arc of this title in exchange for my honest review. This book is set in 1950s North Carolina (and I love a book set in the south). The whole vibe called out to me....folk healing, mental illness, eccentric family members. This book was a delight to read.

Gods of Howl Mountain: A Novel by [Brown, Taylor]

“A fresh, authentic, and eloquent new voice in American fiction.” - Robert Morgan, New York Times bestselling author of Gap Creek


Synopsis:

In Gods of Howl Mountain, award-winning author Taylor Brown explores a world of folk healers, whiskey-runners, and dark family secrets in the high country of 1950s North Carolina.

Bootlegger Rory Docherty has returned home to the fabled mountain of his childhood - a misty wilderness that holds its secrets close and keeps the outside world at gunpoint. Slowed by a wooden leg and haunted by memories of the Korean War, Rory runs bootleg whiskey for a powerful mountain clan in a retro-fitted '40 Ford coupe. Between deliveries to roadhouses, brothels, and private clients, he lives with his formidable grandmother, evades federal agents, and stokes the wrath of a rival runner.

In the mill town at the foot of the mountains - a hotbed of violence, moonshine, and the burgeoning sport of stock-car racing - Rory is bewitched by the mysterious daughter of a snake-handling preacher. His grandmother, Maybelline “Granny May” Docherty, opposes this match for her own reasons, believing that "some things are best left buried." A folk healer whose powers are rumored to rival those of a wood witch, she concocts potions and cures for the people of the mountains while harboring an explosive secret about Rory’s mother - the truth behind her long confinement in a mental hospital, during which time she has not spoken one word. When Rory's life is threatened, Granny must decide whether to reveal what she knows...or protect her only grandson from the past.

With gritty and atmospheric prose, Taylor Brown brings to life a perilous mountain and the family who rules it.

About the Author:

TAYLOR BROWN grew up on the Georgia coast. He has lived in Buenos Aires, San Francisco, and the mountains of western North Carolina. His fiction has appeared in more than twenty publications, he is the recipient of the Montana Prize in Fiction, and was a finalist in both the Machigonne Fiction Contest and the Doris Betts Fiction Prize. He is the author of Fallen Land (2016) and The River of Kings (2017); Gods of Howl Mountain is his third novel. He lives in Wilmington, North Carolina.

My Thoughts:

I completely devoured this book. It was like being home, in both the best, and worst ways. You know what I'm talking about when you hale from the Appalachia, as I did, and you pick up this book.

I could see my own great grandmother, smoking a pipe on the front porch.

I could see my great uncle running whisky down the side of the mountain.

I could hear my ancestors in the strength and groan of the mountain underneath them for generations.

I could smell the earth and feel the mountain air all around me, escorting me from the warm beaches of Florida back home, to the crisp dangerous mountain wind.

This book was completely magical, in the most honest way that it pictured mountain people, not shying away from the truth in any way.

I highly recommend you pre-order your copy on amazon here. (aff links)

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I was given this book from Netgalley in exchange of my honest review. All opinions stated above are my own.

I don't know what I was expecting, but I can safely say I didn't get what I'd hoped.

Gods of Howl Mountain follows the exploits of ex-Marine Rory Docherty. After returning to North Carolina, minus a leg (it having been blown off during his time fighting in Korea), Rory is forced to shorten his career expectations. He settles in as a bootlegger--running moonshine and whiskey for his great-uncle in Howl Mountain. His grandmother, having been his sole guardian since birth, after his mother was sent away to a mental hospital, after having borne witness to an unspeakable tragedy that struck her dumb, provides the only foundation Rory has ever known.

The story isn't a long one, but it was hard to truly get into it due to the lengthy descriptions of the environment. It's clear Brown wanted folks to get a feel for the setting. However, he had a way of overwriting every scene--taking far too much time setting it up, while using no time at all to actually flesh out the characters therein.

I often felt lulled to sleep by overly long paragraphs. At some point, I wanted to scream, I get it! It's the country. They live on a mountain without much in the way of surrounding civilization. Get on with it, already!

While it's understandable that a scene must be set, there is such a thing as doing too much. For instance, this:

The road glittered before them, a hard thin river rushing down out of the mountains, dropping now and again through dynamited swallows of rock where the air was suddenly cooler and darker, then breaking open again to the light, thrust along sheer ridges over a model-trainman's world of tiny square fields and toy houses, herds of cattle positioned just so in their valley pastures. The silver-barked trees at the higher altitudes looked almost brittle, like skinny-limbed old men reaching for the sky, the leaves already browned and fallen from their upthrust hands.


This book is filled with passages like the one above. Most of them made little, if any, sense; they often felt rambling in nature, honestly. And most felt irrelevant to the arc of the story.

It would have been nice to see Brown spend more time on Rory, or his mother (Bonni)--even a bit more time on Eli and Eustace would have been nice.

Each were crucial, in some way, to the plot.

The only person we are given any real insight into is Granny May.

She's a likable woman, with a strong presence, and it's clear she's the star of the story--despite any allusions to the contrary--and she became the only reason I soldiered on.

This would've been a much more enjoyable story if the characters were given the same opportunity to shine as the atmosphere. As it were, it fell flat because I didn't feel connected enough so, by the end, I was just glad it was over.

A gritty tale about bootlegging in 1950s North Carolina. The main characters in this fantastic, atmospheric story are pipe smoking 'healer' Granny May and her grandson, Rory, seriously scarred both physically and mentally by his time in Korea. There is also a dark murder mystery running, in flashbacks mostly, throughout the book. This involves Bonni, mother to Rory and Granny May's daughter, who has been left mute and institutionalised for two decades following a horrific attack that left a young man dead.

I really enjoyed this book, which has a very cinematic feel throughout and fantastic characters, some of whom are not all they first appear to be. Rarely have I read a character as fantastic as Granny May. What a woman!

A totally engrossing read with a very satisfying ending.

It's the 1950's in Howl Mountain,North Carolina. Rory is back from the Korean War, minus one leg, but alive. Living with his grandmother up on the mountain, making a living running shine and trying to evade the government men and the competition.

His mother is in a mental institution and hasn't spoken a word since she was sentenced there. Only she knows what really happened to put her there. There are many stories and secrets that everyone would just like to see stay buried. And Granny is one of those. 

How far will things go before she may have to take action?

This is the first of Brown's books that I have read, but not the last. Great Job!

NetGalley/St.Martin's Press March 20, 2018

A raw, thrilling and ultimate fulfilling portrayal of one man and his amazing community cut off from the outside world and yet constantly working to influence it.

Great story set in the North Carolina Mountains in the 1950s. The setting is depicted authentically and the story has a mystery at its heart. What beautiful writing! Every chapter composed elegantly like a short story in itself! The author takes you to the place of moon shine and snake handlers.

When it comes to protagonists, Taylor Brown has changed that paradigm in his novel Gods of Howl Mountain. Rory Docherty is a wounded Korean veteran, back home to bootleg liquor, clash with local factions, evade the law, and appease all his family. He is a gritty car guy who knows the long history of the mountain and the mill town at the bottom of the valley. While Rory is a cut-throat stock car racer and bootlegger, he also knows the mountain and people. A novel as much about place and time as it is story and conflict.

Rory has returned with a missing leg. Living with his grandmother, in the mountains, they live among the herbal remedies and folklore that haunts the misty mountains. When Rory falls in love with the daughter of a snake-handling preacher, their world is pulled apart by violence, rivalries, love, and ghosts from the past.

Thinking that some evil has invaded Rory's heart, Granny May keeps her shotgun close and her distrust closer. She is mystical in her mountain herbal remedies and her shotgun judgments of the world. Her life as a matriarch and medicine woman draws people to her who want different cures for what ails their lives in town. She also is the link between Rory and the mother he never knew.

Taylor Brown's prose is as mystical and lyrical as the ghosts high in the mountains. It is not always a beautiful place, but the mountain, the people, and the hard lives all resonant with a profound beauty that shifts from grace and wisdom to deceit and violence. Brown has masterfully crafted this world, grounding in the reader a sense of place and time in America, now long gone.

4 sassy southern stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟

This book was true southern grit lit (I didn’t even know that was a thing, but it sure does describe this book perfectly)... I really do enjoy southern Fiction.... the south seems to be very rich with fascinating history.....

This was a character driven novel and I absolutely adored the characters in this book.... Granny May was the best! if I lived in the appellations in the 50s I’d want to be just like her.... without her past.... OK maybe I wouldn’t want to be just like her, but she sure was an amazing and interesting character.... she told you how it was and was not politically correct in how she told you... she also dabbled in herbal healing which I found extremely interesting.... and which also made her neighbors believe she could possibly be a witch..... Rory her grandson who she raised because his mother had a breakdown of sorts was also an interesting character..... Home from the Korean war with scars both on the inside and out.... Rory believed if he found the answers to all of his questions he will find closure, but some answers lead to even more questions.....

The pace of this book was a bit slow and I also found it a little wordy.... there was a lot going on moonshiners, stock car races, snake handling, love interest, secrets, family feud, etc. I think it all tied up neatly and nicely at the end..... however I spent a lot of the book a bit overwhelmed with everything that was going on....

There are a lot of amazing reviews for this book and I really wish I loved it as much as others.... but for the reasons stated above I didn’t, I really liked it I just did not love it.... I would recommend if you are a fan of southern fiction, historical fiction, and very descriptive writing with some fun quirky characters thrown in....

*** i’d like to thank the publisher and Net Galley for a copy of this book ***

There is something visceral that is felt when reading this deftly-written story set amidst the deep mountains during a period in history when such places were well and truly hidden. Where "Above it all the sea of night, the strange ornamentation of stars..." dazzle readers and draw them into the lush setting that is Howl Mountain.

The setting and even the name Howl Mountain is perfect for this mesmerizing, secret-rich tale that will have readers believing in the possibility that supernatural powers exist. 

The characters are so believable that it is impossible not to find yourself invested in their lives and their world. You will wish you could travel back in time to stop some of the hardships that have befallen, as well as those that are heading towards this family.

The riotous and abundant surroundings of the mountain landscape will have you longing for a life lived in this wonderous setting as well as wishing to go back to this harsh, yet simpler time in American history.

Granny May embodies a time when 'wise-women' were both revered as well as feared. Her knowledge of local herbs and lore allows her to eke out a living during a time when people had little or no money to spare. The Dictionary definition of a wisewoman is: "a woman considered to be knowledgeable in matters such as herbal healing, magic charms, or other traditional lore." Wisewomen were often feared for their knowledge and were sometimes branded as witches and persecuted by those who feared them. Fortunately for Granny Mae, she knows how to take care of herself.

Rory Docherty is Granny May's grandson. He is a veteran who left for the Korean war as a boy and returned as a man (minus a leg). He used the money he earned in the war to buy a 1940 Ford Coupe. He and a buddy added all kinds of special extras and made some serious modifications to it in order to make it the perfect Moonshine-Runner's vehicle. This car was a mean looking piece of

Rory was raised by Granny May since his mother has been committed to an insane asylum and has not spoken a single word in over twenty years.

As Rory makes his regular whiskey drop-offs, he meets the stunningly gorgeous daughter of a fire-and-brimstone-snake-handling Preacher and falls in love at first sight.

It is this one meeting that changes the course of Rory's life and the lives of everyone around him.

The question is, will the mountain release any of its closely held secrets? Will the families involved be able to continue on as they always have? What about Granny May? Will she survive the evil that is steadily stalking her? Or will she succumb to it in the end?

This is one book that you will wish would never end. From the way that Taylor Brown describes the mountain landscape, it is evident that he has a deep and abiding affection for nature.

If you have not yet had the privilege of reading any of Taylor Brown's books, now is your chance and it is one not to be missed.

I rate this amazing book as 5 out of 5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

3.5 Stars* (rounded down)

It was a time of whiskey runs, bootlegging and herbal medicines and potions used to aid those in need. On Howl Mountain, the living was hard. Granny May Docherty all but lost her daughter years ago in a horrible incident. Now her daughter lives is in a hospital, mute and unresponsive. Granny May has done what she had to do to survive and though most everyone judges her for it - most use her services for something or other. Rory Docherty came home from the Korean War a changed man. Hardened, Remote and an Amputee. If he thought life was hard before, he was wrong.

In the “Gods of Howl Mountain” Granny May and Rory Docherty encounter their past and try to move forward in a world where life ain’t easy. Every breath hurts.

Taylor Brown uses extremely vivid, lengthy and powerful descriptions to provide the reader with the time, place and the feeling each character experiences. For me however, I had to keep reading each description a few times to get to the heart of the story and those descriptions took something away from the storyline. Once I was able to do that however, I truly enjoyed the characters of Granny May and Rory. They had heart, lots of gumption and were both fiercely protective of family. What more could you ask for?

Thank you to NetGalley, Taylor Brown and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Published on NetGalley and Goodreads on 2.3.18.
*Will be published on Amazon on 3.20.18.

Wow!  This was my first book by Taylor Brown and I was totally blown away with how vividly descriptive and enjoyable this novel was!  This book quickly went into my favourite reads shelf for 2018!

GODS OF HOWL MOUNTAIN by TAYLOR BROWN is a gritty, dark, intense, and compelling historical fiction novel that had me totally engaged, entertained, and interested throughout the whole book.  I absolutely loved this book from start to finish!

TAYLOR BROWN delivers a multi-layered story here that is so well-written, atmospheric, and so vividly descriptive that I felt like I was right there along with them in the mountains.  The characters were all so memorable and well-developed and I especially loved Granny May & Rory.

To sum it all up it was an engrossing, interesting, unforgettable, and an enjoyable read with a wonderful ending. Would highly recommend!

Publication date: March 20, 2018

Thank you so much to my fellow Traveling Sisters for another wonderful reading experience!

Thank you so much to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Taylor Brown for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a review!

After reading two other books by this author and not connecting with them I had said I wasn't going to try him again.
I lied.
Or more likely I forgot I said it.

BUT look at that cover!


*drools*

And that blurb had me from hello.

And I didn't hate it! It is the story of a former Korean War vet named Rory who has come home to his mountains and is running whiskey through those mountains. He lives at home with his Granny May.
Granny May I love you! Granny May used to be a whore..she gave that up after her daughter had some bad stuff happen that caused her to end up in the local mental hospital with no voice. After she stops the whoring she becomes the local go to person for all the old time folk healing.
Granny is the best! She gives the grandson advice...
"Don't wed 'em till they spread 'em son. There's words to live by. Any girl wants Jesus in her more than you, something ain't right.".

This book has so much of my favorite stuff to read about...moonshine, folk healing, violence and even throw in a church of snake healers.

Yes, please.

The only thing I can say bad about it is the fact that FOR ME this author writes so flowery that it tends to take away from his books subjects. There is dark stuff happening in them and the pretty language messes with my simple mind. However, I enjoyed this one enough that I'll sign up for his next book. 3.5 stars.

Booksource: Netgalley in exchange for review.

Rory returns from the war trying to fit back into a society of back country whiskey-running. He works twice as hard to make sure he makes his life and that of his family a success even amongst a community that is in constant battle.

I know many people will enjoy this style of writing, and the glimpse into another time and place.

5 gritty, vivid, whiskey-running stars to Gods of Howl Mountain 🥃 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

Have you ever heard of the Carolina parakeet, a now extinct colorful bird native to North Carolina? It plays a role in this book, and I have an interesting, but sad, connection to that beautiful bird. I had a beloved parakeet named Freddy as a child. We used to let Freddy out of his cage to fly around the house (I know! 👀 Recipe for disaster, right?!). One day I opened the door to take my bike outside, and Freddy flew out. To my horror, and through streams of tears, I saw him on the power line looking down at me. On top of the dismay of losing him, I just knew Freddy wouldn’t make it out in the wild. Enter the legend of the Carolina parakeet that my dad told me. It was just enough for that little girl to believe that maybe/hopefully Freddy survived. (...and I didn’t know the bird was already extinct, and Google didn’t exist yet, but I digress...) Well, this whole thing was a digression! On to the book! 💕

Gods of Howl Mountain, my first book from Taylor Brown, was in a league of its own. Brown specializes in descriptive, dark prose. I’ve lived in North Carolina most of my life, the state where the book took place. While I have not personally witnessed a setting or people like those in this book, I was nevertheless fully and completely transported by Brown’s writing. The descriptions were a little clunky to read at times because I would stop to reflect, re-read, and pause just to visualize the imagery. I wish there had been a little more flow to the writing, but the pay-off of the vivid perception was worth it for me.

Granny May and Rory were two of the most endearing, complex characters I’ve come across. They were both hard and beyond rugged around the edges, but with the purest of hearts. Even secondary characters were completely fleshed out like Eli, Bonni, and Eustace.

Historical fiction is my favorite genre because I always learn something new. Rory’s experience in his short time in the Korean War was both tragic and enlightening. The dangerous whiskey-running 🥃 business was something I knew next to nothing about. Granny May’s interest in herbs and healing was fascinating.

If I had to pick the one area where this book excelled the most, it would be the characters. If you enjoy descriptive books with some of the best characterization around, don’t miss Gods of Howl Mountain!

This was a Traveling Sister read, and as always it was a pleasure discussing this book. ♥️ Please check out Norma and Brenda’s amazing blog for more reviews: https://twogirlslostinacouleereading.wordpress.com