Brian Panowich has created another intense, atmospheric novel about mountain life and this time, being forced to leave it. This is a prequel to Bull Mountain. Clayton Burroughs is still a young man, not yet the sheriff. His father, Garrett, is the crime boss of Bull Mountain.
“These mountains? This land? It’s not just rock and dirt. It’s a living, breathing thing. And when it gets hungry? It eats the soft meat and leaves nothing but the bones.”
Nails McKenna is a bit damaged. He sometimes can’t remember if he just thinks something or says it out loud. He’s an enforcer for Garrett Burroughs. But one night, he sees a man abuse a woman, loses his temper and is forced to go on the run. For the first time in his life, he has to leave the mountain. And Dallas, the young woman he protected ends up going with him, causing more trouble along the way, because she has a way of just making incredibly bad choices.
It’s not the first time Nails protected a young woman. And that leads to Clayton going after Nails to help him.
Panowich has created an excellent cast of characters. My heart went out to Nails, so far out of his depth. Dallas is a bit of an enigma. I couldn’t tell if she was a con, an idiot or just a sad, scared child.
The book moves at a nice steady clip. It’s dark and there’s plenty of violence. I was totally surprised by some of the twists. And I really loved the way it ended. This is much deeper than the standard southern noir story.
My thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy of this book.

I am a fan of the McFalls County series and was thrilled to receive a copy of Nothing But The Bones. Panowich delivers a profound story with lots of action and characters dripping with southern heritage. Highly recommend to fans of southern noir. This is a prequel, so reading the previous books in the series is not necessary.

ARC was provided by NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review. Pub Date: 16 April 2024
#NetGalley #NothingButTheBones #BrianPanowich #StMartinsPressMinotaurBooks

Another brilliant southern noir fiction by Brian Panowich. This is a prequel from the McFalls County series with new and familiar characters but can be read as a stand alone. Panowich delivers a heartfelt story, filled with action and a few twists I didn’t see coming.

ARC was provided by NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review. Pub Date: 16 April 2024
#NetGalley #NothingButTheBones #BrianPanowich #StMartinsPressMinotaurBooks

Nothing But The Bones is the fifth installment in Brian Panowich’s novels and short stories set in McFalls County, Georgia, focusing on the fictional Burroughs family and Bull Mountain.

While the novel takes place earlier in the Bull Mountain timeline and could be considered a stand-alone novel, reading the previous installments first will enhance the enjoyment of Nothing But The Bones.

In his latest novel, Panowich focuses on the previously introduced character Nelson “Nails” McKenna and his life within McFalls County, detailing how he became known as “Nails” and as an enforcer for the local crime boss, Gareth Burroughs.

After Nails intercedes during a horrific incident in a local nightclub, the ensuing events initiate a whirlpool of violence and the introduction of increasingly malevolent characters in the hunt for Nails as he goes to great lengths to rectify his earlier actions and protect those who are important to him, even if that means crossing paths with the fearsome Gareth Burroughs.

Revealing more of the plot would involve spoilers best left for the reader to discover.

Among contemporary writers of the Rural Noir/Southern Noir/Grit Lit genre, Brian Panowich stands out as a leading author, consistently producing tales that are far from clichéd or repetitive. He crafts stories brimming with intriguing characters and compelling plotlines, and with Nothing But The Bones, Panowich continues this trend.

Like so many skilled writers of rural themes, Panowich writes with precision, ensuring no word is wasted. He shares the common ability to vividly describe people, places, and times, making reading his work feel almost like walking alongside the characters within his stories.

For those who enjoy this genre, Nothing But The Bones is highly recommended. Panowich’s stories and novels are also highly recommended to those interested in starting a new series or exploring the works of a different author.

Nothing But The Bones is set to be published in April of 2024. This review was originally published at MysteryandSuspense.com.

Netgalley provided an ARC in return for a fair review.

withholdding review as a result of the SMP review boycott. like. pelase resolve this. genuinely apologize. make a plan to fix it.

Great characters make for an addicting book. It was good to step back into the world of Bull Mountain.

I first saw Brian Panowich when Bull Mountain debuted. I was hooked. Usually, I am not a fan of prequels because may are contrived and a way for an author to capitalize on the success of their novel. Not in this case. Panowich’s prequel to his Bull Mountain series is masterful. It can be read as a stand alone novel or as a way to understand how his characters got to where they were.

Clayton Burroughs was always looked down upon by his Deddy (yes, Deddy) as not worthy of being a member of the first family of crime on Bull Mountain. Clayton first appears as a high school student, who with his girlfriend Kate and her friend Amy try to help a friend who, although very large, was being bullied. Nelson had some mental issues and was born with a deformed but powerful hand. Nelson got into some trouble and Deddy came to the rescue. Deddy took Nelson under his wing, put him to work in his criminal organization and renamed him Nails.

Flash forward several years. Nails gets into trouble after an incident in a bar and goes on the run, although with his somewhat limited capacity, he has trouble understanding why. His friends need to find him and set things right. Panowich takes us on a remarkable journey of self-awareness, loyalty, friendship and love. There is plenty of action and twists to make you want to keep reading.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC.

Nelson (Nails) McKenna is a very big, handicapped young man. He finds himself the target of every bully in the community. The bullies make the mistake of trying to rekindle their high school fun by taunting Nelson. His boss (Burroughs) catches them, however, and the lead perpetrator wounds up in very bad shape.

When he confronts the gang again, it is in defense of Kate. She leaves the building, but not before calling him “handsome.” Nobody ever called him that before.

The perp that attacked the woman will cause a show down and the town is going to pin it on Nails. He is given a bag of money and told to leave town and never come back. Nelson throws everything he owns in the back seat of his pride and joy, an early 1990s Ford LTD, and leaves. Kate has hidden under his clothes in the back seat. He allows her to stay in the car as he heads south to Florida.

Kate appreciates the way that Nails protected her from the others and wants to stay with him. The relationship between Nails and Kate begins on the road to Florida. This book is a fast-moving read and the characters make you admire them. Enjoy! 4 stars – CE Williams

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. These thoughts and opinions are my own.

Hardscrabble is certainly the best descriptive adjective for this story set in the Blue Ridge area of Georgia. The characters are dripping in Southern heritage, scrappy people with few opportunities to better their circumstances. There are ordinary small town businesses and bars full of regular working class folks. There’s also a seedier underbelly of criminal enterprises, misfits who work for ‘The Man’. He makes his money selling whatever people with means and the ability to pay for it desire. He has powerful people in high places. The story is dark and gritty.
Nails made a seriously poor decision in his youth and now he’s indebted and works for that Man. A chance encounter sends Nails on a new path and nothing will be the same ever again. It’s a story about right and wrong, choices that alter the course of life. It’s a love story that’s years in the making. It’s full of pain, death and hatred. There were many aspects of Nail’s life that caught me off guard. The plot was full of surprises and unexpected outcomes. I really enjoyed it.
I have never read anything by this author previously but I really enjoyed his style and will watch for his future endeavors. Thanks to NetGalley for the digital advance reader copy of “Nothing But The Bones” by Brian Panowich, St. Martin’s Publishing Minotaur Books, expected publication 04/16/2024. These are all my own honest personal thoughts and opinions given voluntarily without any compensation.

4+ stars

Back to the best southern noir author, and back to life on the mountain where the Burroughs family is in control.

This novel takes place years before Clayton Burroughs becomes sheriff… it begins when he is a teenager and he and two female friends come upon their friend Nelson being bullied out by a pond.
It ends badly as Nelson beats one of them to death in his rage.
Clayton’s father Garreth … brings Nelson under the protection of the family and he is then called “NAILS”
Fast forward a few yrs and Nails… in anger.. again kills someone, in a bar… while sticking up for a woman..
Well.. for this Garreth wants Nails taken care of.. sends him to Jacksonville… probably to have him eliminated…
Then the story really moves fast.

This was a really good, a page turner..not as brutal as his others and there is much warmth involved also.

This author’s other books are equally as good!


Thank you to Netgalley and St.Martin’s Publishing Group for the ARC!

Many thanks to Brian Panowich, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this novel. I’ve read all of Panowich’s novels, and he continues his streak of well-written southern noir thrillers here with Nothing But the Bones. Can’t wait to see what’s next for Clayton Burroughs.

Nothing but the bones is the novel where Brian Panowich sets the bar even higher than one of the gold standard of southern grit lit he published in 2015 when his first novel, BULL MOUNTAIN, came to light.
The story evolves as the characters do and he uses just the right amount of easter eggs and nods to the past works of the BULL MOUNTAIN universe to keep his fellowship happy, and to make this new installement accessible to new readers.
It is a remarkable work of fiction, brutal, honest, and where you can't help but root for half the cast of the story, while hoping to see the other half in a subsequent novel even though you'd hope to see them meet their maker.

Nothing but the bones is the novel where Brian Panowich sets the bar even higher than one of the gold standard of southern grit lit he published in 2015 when his first novel, BULL MOUNTAIN, came to light.
The story evolves as the characters do and he uses just the right amount of easter eggs and nods to the past works of the BULL MOUNTAIN universe to keep his fellowship happy, and to make this new installement accessible to new readers.
It is a remarkable work of fiction, brutal, honest, and where you can't help but root for half the cast of the story, while hoping to see the other half in a subsequent novel even though you'd hope to see them meet their maker.

Nothing but the bones is the novel where Brian Panowich sets the bar even higher than one of the gold standard of southern grit lit he published in 2015 when his first novel, BULL MOUNTAIN, came to light.
The story evolves as the characters do and he uses just the right amount of easter eggs and nods to the past works of the BULL MOUNTAIN universe to keep his fellowship happy, and to make this new installement accessible to new readers.
It is a remarkable work of fiction, brutal, honest, and where you can't help but root for half the cast of the story, while hoping to see the other half in a subsequent novel even though you'd hope to see them meet their maker.

NOTHING BUT THE BONES
BY: BRIAN PANOWICH

About 4.25 Stars!

In "Nothing But the Bones," Brian Panowich's latest Southern Noir fiction started off with a bang full of action and doesn't let up until the last ten percent of this novel. It's full of suspense and I was surprised how simple the language it's written in, yet it paints a strong vivid picture that's visually powerful. It starts out in North Georgia at a bar in which Nelson "Nails" McKenna kills a man while he tries to defend a young woman named, "Dallas," that is being taken advantage of. I was hooked from the very first page. The setting in this rural mountain feels authentic and foreboding of what's to transpire.


Nails is banished to Jacksonville, Florida by Clayton's father Gareth Burroughs who is the local crime boss that runs everything on the mountain. Nails has been Gareth's enforcer even though his heart's not really in it since he was a teenager. Nails has a typically abusive father who the reader understands early on why Nail's is primed from a young age to learn to defend himself as a crucial means of survival in this crime riddled environment.

The young woman named, "Dallas," who Nails was defending ends up going with him on the run to Northern Florida. I didn't like her at first because I got the sense that she had a role in what sets off the trajectory of everything that is to come. She is not who she appears to be and her actions while they are in Florida get Nails in situations he might not have otherwise experienced. It very soon becomes easy to root for these two misunderstood people. There are a multitude of characters, but it's never confusing trying to keep them all straight. This was a very easy reading experience throughout its entirety.

Gareth is helping his son Clayton build Clayton's house for Clayton and Kate. Nails had defended Kate and Amy when they were younger and they ended up talking Clayton into doing the right thing by Nails by trying to assist him in Florida. Clayton makes the decision to try to help his friend, and even though he is a member of the Burroughs clan he is nothing like his ruthless father. Quite the opposite he is loyal and a likable character as well as Nails.

Nail's reluctantly finds himself in the position of giving Dallas a ride to protect her from being alone walking at night by herself. She is not everything that she seems and with his car attracting attention from two unsavory brothers who overhear Nail's talking on a pay phone, they steal the eight thousand dollars of Nail's traveling and expense money. Dallas robs the store where they have stopped to get gas causing them to hide his car in the woods, and Nail's has to steal a black Honda for them to elude the police.

I have had the novel called, "Bull Mountain," sitting on my Kindle since it was first published, but never got around to reading it. I read another review of this in which it stated that this wasn't as good as that one in that reviewer's opinion. I was actually surprised at how much that I enjoyed this one which far exceeded my expectations. I had read the synopsis to this when I first requested this, but had totally forgotten the particulars of what this was about. I had heard of how wonderful "Bull Mountain," was many years ago. I'm glad that I knew as little about this as possible which only enhanced my reading experience of this.

What a roller coaster of a wild ride this turned out to be, albeit it's not my usual genre. For the most part it's a story of a man with a big heart who tries defending a young woman, but goes overboard with what he witnesses being done to her. Brian Panowich did an excellent job keeping his words stark therefore they strike with impact leading to visualization of one precarious thing leading to another. At 336 pages this did take me a lot longer to read than usual. I neglected my errands and my "to do," list in order to read this in one sitting. I'm definitely planning on reading "Bull Mountain," after enjoying this one so much.

I did think the last 10% dragged and bogged down what was otherwise a powerful narrative. I really liked the characters that were the main protagonists of this story. The nefarious characters were horrible lending to this being credibly realistically developed. This is probably going to be popular with male readers as well as some females. There is violence and blood, but only where necessary to serve the plot. That being said this isn't going to be for everyone so I recommend this with caution. I do hope that with some edits the ending doesn't need to get so bogged down. I truly enjoy the kind of storytelling that the pacing stays consistent from start to finish.

Publication Date: April 16, 2024

Thank you to Net Galley, Brian Panowich and St. Martin's Press Minotaur Books for generously providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

#NothingButtheBones #BrianPanowich #StMartinsPressMinotaurBooks #NetGalley

Brian Panowich delivers in this gripping story from McFalls County. The story, the characters, everything is *chefs kiss*.

Another good one from Panowich. Gritty, poetic, heartfelt. In the process of defending a woman being assaulted, Nails McKenna, an enforcer for local crime boss, Gareth Burroughs, ends up killing the abuser. From there the story takes us on the run with Nails, and the woman he saved, Dallas. And there's plenty of nefarious characters more than interested in tracking them down. There's a bit of everything for crime fans. Violence, a love story, father/son tensions, you name it. Panowich continues to shine.

Once again, Brian Panowich delivers an authentic, southern lit read.

Nelson, also known as Nails, has always been somewhat of a loner. Since childhood he’s only had a rare, few people around him that have tried to look after him. But most just stayed clear. He’s a large man and a known enforcer for one of the most powerful families on Bull Mountain.

But Nails has a softer side too. Enter Dallas. They are magnetically drawn to one another. When Nails steps in to protect Dallas he goes a bit too far and once again finds himself on the run.

This was a heart-felt, emotional read about friendship and loyalty, interlaced with some even deeper themes throughout.
Though it took a while for this book to capture me, once it did I was all in. And was rewarded with a very satisfying and contented ending!

Brian Panowich is a staple in the Southern Lit genre. His books encapsulate the atmosphere and deliver you straight into the Appalachian mountains.
Looking forward to more from this very talented author.

A buddy read with Susanne.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press

Powerful, gripping, moving and addictive. I did not want to put this book down! Panowich delivers another page turner that packs a punch in many ways. If you have not read one of his books, you are missing out!

McFalls County is run by local crime boss, Gareth Burroughs. Nelson “Nails” McKenna has been his enforcer since he was a teenager. One night at a bar, Nails takes things way too far in defense of a woman and not even Burroughs can get him out of the trouble he has gotten himself into. Nails and Dallas, the woman from the bar go on the run....

This book had me hook, line, and sinker from the very first page. I was fully invested in the plot and rooted for Nails and Dallas the entire way. Fans of the series will recognize key figures and as this book is a prequel to the Bull Mountain series. There were characters I loved and characters I loved to hate in this book.

I thought the author did a great job blending crime fiction, drama, being on the run, and love in many forms i.e., friendship, family, romance. This book also showed the cruelty and vileness in the world but also the goodness as well.

I found this to be a well written and powerful read. The pacing was spot on and kept me turning the pages long into the night. I love tension in books and this one had it in droves.

A well written and gripping page turner!

Ever find yourself gripped by a book, unable to put it down but can’t pinpoint what kept you hooked? That’s how I felt about this one. So much I loved; however, I have a few buts…
I love Brian Panowich, and after reading his previous books, he set the bar for Southern Noir, and I became his newest fan. Nothing But Bones doesn't hit as hard as his other books, and he has toned down on the violence. It's just a bit less punchy and hard-hitting but as intense, engaging, and exciting.

Panowich excels in spinning some likable, intriguing characters that are worth rooting for and some nasties meaner than a snake on a Monday..

But, here comes the "but."

So many worthy themes are at play here, but I won't spill the beans. While I appreciated Panowich's more significant picture theme, he slips into some déjà vu moments and leans on a few worn-out tropes. It's stuff I hoped we'd moved on from; however, while he misses the mark on some things, he nails the emotional pull he is going for.

It gets my brain buzzing, questioning things; however, in the end, I'm brushing off the noise and soaking in the joy of reading a book that hooked me from start to finish. I can't argue with that.