Booklist
Set against the backdrop of the 2016 election, Hinkson’s darkly satirical take on power and hypocrisy closes with a shocking but fitting twist.
Seattle Book Review
Dry County packs a wallop in the inaugural chapter and doesn’t pull punches throughout. The story is relatable, compelling, and possesses an emotional intensity that will resonate with the reader well after the words have been consumed.
S. J. Rozan
Desire, desperation, and despair collide in Jake Hinkson's bleakly imagined and perfectly rendered vision of small-town Arkansas. Religion, respectability, hope for the future—virtue is the flip side of vice and Hinkson drives that truth sharply home.
Kirkus Reviews
As the principals take turns plotting their next moves, things predictably spiral out of control with all the horrifyingly matter-of-fact force of Scott Smith’s parable A Simple Plan as Hinkson leads his all-too-human hero step by step into a monstrous pool of corruption. The whole sad carnival comes crashing to an unforgettable halt.
Publishers Weekly (starred)
Set in rural Arkansas, this unapologetically bleak noir explores the effects of existential and spiritual despair in an economically depressed town where the influence of religious fundamentalism is stifling. Powered by raw emotional intensity and a disturbingly realistic portrayal of small-town America, this story is unforgettable.
MysteryPeople (Pick of the Month)
Dry County will hopefully earn Jake Hinkson the fanbase he deserves. He’s subtle in his preciseness, revealing an evil that doesn’t seem so threatening at first glance. By the time we’ve reached that last line, we’ve stared straight in the eye, and maybe chuckled.
Brendan DuBois
From its gripping first pages, the reader knows he or she is in the hands of an expert storyteller. Dry County is a dark, noir-ish tale that weaves religion, politics, family betrayals, and violence, all centered around the forgotten small towns of rural Arkansas. Jake Hinkson spins a story that just holds onto you and doesn’t let go. Highly recommended.
Nancy Allen
Dry County is a hillbilly noir jewel. Jake Hinkson reveals the underbelly of small town life in this gritty thriller as he depicts the fall of a Southern preacher. An absorbing tale.
Aoife Clifford
A day in a small town with big secrets is the setting for this perfect storm of a book. Jake Hinkson takes the reader on a white-knuckle ride in a world where good people have done bad things. I couldn’t put it down.
John Copenhaver
Jake Hinkson’s Dry County breathlessly propels readers through the noir landscape of small-town Arkansas, laying bare its hypocrisies and baser impulses. Imagine Breaking Bad’s Walter White as the pastor of a Baptist Church; Hinkson’s Brother Weatherford’s fall is as far, as dark, and as deep.
William Boyle
Hinkson puts his foot on your throat on the first page and doesn’t let up. Dry County is the kind of book you sit down with and finish in one big gulp; it’s a masterpiece of economy and tension. Set against the backdrop of an Arkansas county’s wet/dry vote and the 2016 presidential election, this story’s got it all: blackmail, brutality, and desperate people doing desperate things. An instant noir classic.
Booklist
Set against the backdrop of the 2016 election, Hinkson’s darkly satirical take on power and hypocrisy closes with a shocking but fitting twist.
Eva Dolan
Saint Homicide is Bible-black noir, a study in the annihilating force of self-righteousness.”
Philippe Blanchet - Rolling Stone (France) [previous praise for Jake Hinkson]
Magnificent.
Cullen Gallagher - Los Angeles Book Review [previous praise for Jake Hinkson]
One of the rare novels that actually deserves the over-used comparison to Jim Thompson.
Kirkus Reviews
2019-07-15
Just how far will an Arkansas preacher go to conceal his sin from his family and his congregation?
Everyone in Stock knows the Rev. Richard Weatherford, the pastor of the First Baptist Church. They know he's a man of God, a devoted father to his five children, a staunch vote against allowing liquor into Van Buren County, and a reliable helper in distress. And all this is true. Even so, college dropout Gary Doane is convinced that everyone from Brother Weatherford's wife, Penny, to his church deacons would see him a lot differently if they knew about his secret fling with Gary, and that's why he wants $30,000 to go away quietly. Unable to put his hands on that kind of money, Weatherford passes the early hours of the day before Easter striking a devil's bargain with Brian Harten: He'll drop his opposition to the liquor store Harten's hoped to open—he'll even talk the other voters out of keeping the county dry—if only Harten will give him the money. Of course Harten, who quit his job at Tommy Weller's bar on the strength of his dreams and started the day by watching his car get repossessed, is even more broke than Weatherford, so he hatches a deeply misbegotten plan to raise the cash. His plan will eventually suck in Weller; Sarabeth Simmons, the daughter of Weller's lover, Carmen Fuller; and Penny Weatherford, who's forced into an impossibly ugly position. As the principals take turns plotting their next moves, never thinking more than five minutes ahead, things predictably spiral out of control with all the horrifyingly matter-of-fact force of Scott Smith's parable A Simple Plan as Hinkson (No Tomorrow, 2018, etc.) leads his all-too-human hero step by step into a monstrous pool of corruption.
The whole sad carnival comes crashing to an unforgettable halt just in time for the world's most macabre Easter.
