The Willis family has lived on their unspoiled piece of land on the northern California coastline for more than a hundred years – and now, they stand to lose it all. Finalist in the 2017 IAN Book of the Year Awards– Literary and Suspense Categories Fans of SHUTTER ISLAND by Dennis Lehane, BIG SUR by Jack Kerouac, and THE BONES BENEATH by Mark Billingham will devour this dark literary thriller set in Big Sur, along the epic San Francisco coastline. THE EDGE OF FARALLON is a complex and intricate emotional mystery, which will appeal to readers who enjoy taking the time to piece together carefully-designed puzzles of the mind and heart.Signed by the author. Also, the characters yell at each other a lot, in a way that comes across as a lazy way of startling the reader with intense emotion rather than a necessary part of the plot or their interactions – it doesn’t fit in well with the subtlety of the rest of the book. Sometimes, though, the author’s enigmatic writing style is more frustrating and confusing than intriguing, and the plot hangs heavy in places, full of more speculation and conversation than action.

The author has a deft way with description, showing the characters’ emotions and perceptions with the same elegant brush as he uses for the beauty of the woods and sea. The characters’ personalities, motivations, and choices open up in the form of dialogue as the story unfolds, but always keeping the reader at arms’ length, keeping their secrets enigmatic and their mysteries never completely solved until the end. Despite its short length, this is not a book that can be experienced in one quick read – it needs a bit of thought and concentration to piece together the complex, subtle plot. THE EDGE OF FARALLON is a book written in short snippets of prose, giving a sense of immediate presence and drawing the reader into the story as it unfolds.

Old secrets and family tragedies come to light when Sam, a mysterious hunter, is hired ostensibly to kill a local mountain lion that has been attacking livestock – but is that really his purpose? What job is he truly there to do, and what threat or promise does he pose for the Willis family and their land?

The fate of the land, however, is in dispute, as Frank has an offer to sell for a high price, Lulu desperately wants to preserve her home and its beauty, and Angus feels his mind failing and struggles to find the right thing to do. Frank and Angus Willis, and their niece Lulu, own a beautiful piece of coastal land in Northern California in a shared trust.

The Edge of Farallon by Peter Skinner