Willnot: The new literary mystery novel from the bestselling author of Drive

By James Sallis

In the woods outside the town of Willnot, the remains of several people have been discovered, unnerving the community and unsettling Dr Lamar Hale, the town's all-purpose general practitioner, surgeon and town conscience.

At the same time, Bobby Lowndes - his military records missing, and followed by the FBI - mysteriously reappears in his hometown, at Hale's door. Over the ensuing months, the daily dramas Hale faces as he tends to his town and to his partner, Richard, collide with the inexplicable vagaries of life in Willnot. And when a gunshot aimed at Lowndes critically wounds Richard, Hale's world is truly upended.

In his inimitable spare style, James Sallis conjures indelible characters and scenes that resonate long after they appear.' You live with someone year after year, you think you've heard all the stories,' Lamar observes, 'but you never have.'

'a slippery, poetic mystery that becomes a love story to small town America' - Ian Rankin

'What a lovely, unexpected book - taking you safely, not without loss, where you didn't know it was going' - John Harvey

'James Sallis is one of our greatest living crime writers and Willnot continues an almost unseemly streak of excellence. Try to get his words, his stories, his people out of your head. Just try' - Laura Lippman

'He conveys an atmosphere, disturbing and lyrical, that stays in the memory...A beautiful read from a master' - Times

• Language: English
• Publisher: No Exit Press
• Release date: Jun 23, 2016
• ISBN: 9781843446705

James Sallis

James Sallis has published fourteen novels, multiple collections of short stories, poems and essays, the definitive biography of Chester Himes, three books of musicology, and a translation of Raymond Queneau's novel Saint Glinglin. The film of Drive won Best Director award at Cannes; the six Lew Griffin books are in development. Jim plays guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle and Dobro both solo and with the band Three-Legged Dog.

Reviews for Willnot

[kmartin802_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Dr. Lamar Hale is a general practitioner and surgeon in the small town of Willnot - home to a variety of eccentrics. Lamar knows all the secrets and accepts everyone for who they are. When a gravesite containing a number of remains is discovered, the town and Lamar are unnerved. The return of Bobbly Lowndes from the Marines also is unsettling. Lamar has known him since he was a child. Then the FBI comes looking for Bobby.While all these things are happening, Lamar goes about his daily business taking care of the people in the town and just living life with his partner Richard. Lamar's father was an author who hung around with many of the stars of the 50s and 60s and Lamar shares stories about them with Richard. I liked some of the stories about authors I grew up reading. This was an engaging story but very literary and quite the opposite of action-packed. It was a thoughtful of about a year in Lamar and Richard's life. The beginning mystery of the discovered bodies was never resolved. Neither was Bobby's story.Read this one for the language and descriptions and the relationships within the town and with Lamar.

[seeword · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read this excellent book in one day. Author is new to me and I don't know why I never heard of him before. He has a large body of work (going back to the 1970s). Will check availability at local libraries. Library Book.

[lesleystyles-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I was quite intrigued when I was sent another James Sallis book to review as I'm still rather in two minds about the last one! What can I say about this book? What did I honestly think?Well firstly I really couldn't get to grips with how the book was written. It's quite loose and rambling in style and I found that at times, in fact quite often, I really had to think about what had just happened or what had been said, or even re-read a section to actually get a handle on it! It's not really a crime/mystery/thriller story, it's more a sort of collection of musings/journal by the protagonist Lamar Hale, on his life and the people that live, work and pass through the town of Willnot. When I reached the end of the book I actually found that I had rather enjoyed it but also that I felt that I had somehow not done it justice.The book has such a wonderful use of language that I began to feel I had missed out by taking so long to get into the rhythm of the prose. The day after I finished the book (which is quite slight) I made the quite remarkable decision to read it again straight away! This time, because I had already settled into and accepted the style of writing, I found I was able to immerse myself in it totally and really enjoy James Sallis' unique voice. I intend to revisit the previous book (Others of My Kind) to see if my initial view has changed since reading Willnot and will definitely be reading more James Sallis in the future.

[beamis12 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

4+ Sallis has the enviable knack of creating characters that are very hard to forget and Dr. Lamar Lamar Hale now joins this prestigious group. A man who administers daily to the citizens of Willnot and goes home to his partner, Richard, a school teacher who during the time period of this novel, will become acting principal. Their cat, Dickens, is an important character in his own right. Sallis is an observer of the human condition and that is what he does in this novel. When bodies are found, he observes the changes this causes in this town, but this is far from a mystery, it is instead a chronicle of the changes this discovery causes. A young man, a marine who was once in a coma and a patient of Dr. Hales makes an appearance trailed by the FBI. But it the day to day interactions between Dr. Hale, the sheriff and Richard with each other and others in town that provide the meat in this story. This is not a hold your breath suspense story but it is a story whose written words were so right, so eloquent that I had to stop and reread. Characters that I did not want to leave at book's end. A book that is all Sallis, who still at his age still manages to continually produce memorable stories.

[zmagic69 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is my 3rd book by this author, and it was as enjoyable as the other two.
These books are far more about the characters than they are about much of a story. The author writes the characters, Extremely well. So far I really like this author.

[theelliemo · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Absolutely no structure to this book whatsoever. Chapters jump forward in time with no warning. No discernible plot. Characters come and go for no reason. What was going on with Lowndes? What had happened to the bodies? Not that, having got to the end of the book, I really cared. The only rounded character in the whole cast was Dickens.

Hugely disappointing read.

[carolintheforest · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I am writing this after receiving a copy of Willnot from RealReaders in return for an honest review.I previously read ‘Drive’ by this author and really couldn’t see what all the fuss was about; not for me, James Sallis, I thought. How wrong. Willnot is a very short book, described as a Mystery, or a Crime, story; for me, it is both and yet neither, it defies categorisation. In truth, it is simply the musings of an elderly American small-town doctor as he goes about his daily life.The story starts with the discovery of the remains of several people, in the woods outside the town of Willnot. As far as a ‘Crime’ book, or a ‘Mystery’ book goes, you would think so far so good. But this turns out to be a sideline to the story, in truth a non-event. The reader meets Dr Lamar Hale as he visits the scene of the discovery, and then follows him day by day over the course of a few months as another mystery unfolds - also rather undefined, but much more personal to Dr Hale. Overtime, we meet Dr. Hale’s partner Richard, and many other inhabitants of this American backwater, many of them eccentrics, all of them important in the telling of the tale. Dr. Hale is the town’s physician, surgeon, counsellor and friend and his connection to each of them is plainFrankly, the story goes nowhere - but I simply couldn’t stop reading it. One of the most important things for me when reading fiction is that I ‘like’ at least the main character in the story, if not more. In Dr Hale, Richard his partner, and all the other characters, I met people I would love to live with, to spend more time with, to have as friends. They are beautifully crafted, yet the writing is spare and concise, with not a single wasted word.This was a book that I really didn’t want to end. I wish it had been longer. It has encouraged me to try another Sallis book, another time, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

[atticusfinch1048 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Willnot – Classic SallisJames Sallis has once again written a classic, and to my mind one his best, Willnot will be as popular as all his other novels and stories. Not quite a literary crime novel more the story of a middle aged doctor, in small town America, who is trying to come to terms with his own mortality.Willnot is a small town that is full of eccentrics who are aware that they are just ‘visiting’ and that life goes on. Dr Lamar Hale is the local doctor, knows everyone’s aches and pains. The pace of life changes when several bodies are discovered just outside the town, and the local town found all this disconcerting.At the same time, Bobby Lowndes, reappears after years away, a marine come home to visit, is being followed by the FBI. Over the following months we see life in this small time through the eyes of Hale, as he and his partner Richard act as the town conscience.Throughout the book you get the feel for the day to day life of what it must be like to be a doctor not only in practice but always having to act as the local surgeon. Hale is the antidote to his partner Richard who as a teacher, is always philosophising about life in general. We would say that Hale and Richard are married in every sense of the word, but at the same time there is no preaching, people just accept them for who they are.This is a beautifully written book with wonderfully drawn characters, there are depths to them, which makes this such a pleasant read. As the events unfold there is some tension which aids the noir twist, but you still get the feeling that whatever happens, life just goes on.This is a classic James Sallis story, which is well written and takes you to another place a brilliant piece of escapism. Willnot might be short, but it packs a punch many weightier books fail to deliver.