perry’s staff picks
THE CARTEL TRILOGY by Don Winslow
Ostensibly the saga of DEA agent Art Keller VS the Barerra cartel, 33 years of drug trafficking history, are brought to life through countless memorable characters, locations, and historical events. Dickensian and Byzantine in scope, this epic portrays the war on drugs for the brutal, grinding, deadly, pointless canvas of misery that it is.
THE BORDER TRILOGY by Cormac McCarthy
Mostly ditching the gruesome and eventually tiring blood painting of his early work, McCarthy gives us this three book saga of two boys coming of age in the first half of twentieth century southwest North America. Each leaves home to find a life unmoored and in motion in a world growing rapidly less forgiving of such lives. Over the course of three books and several decades we follow their fortunes in McCarthy's trademark stark prose. Perfect for those who want to dip their toes into his literature; if you are a fan and have yet to read, do so now.
FOURTH OF JULY CREEK by Smith Henderson
Pete Snow, a Montana social worker in the Reagan 80s, assists Benjamin Pearl, the child of a survivalist, gradually earning the trust of the family, represented solely by the imposing father, Jerimiah. But when the overzealous activities of the FBI threaten to upend the family's situation, everything in Pete's life threatens to unravel as well. Fourth Of July Creek is told in spare, episodic prose, with a rich lived-in sense of place, and evokes the beginning of the political polarization we know and love today.
WHAT I TALK ABOUT WHEN I TALK ABOUT RUNNING by Haruki Murakami
An amazing rejection of the commonly-held notion that running is not to be tolerated, that reinvigorated my dormant love of long-distance running. As a bonus, a coworker saw me reading this (it was my 1st Murakami) and they recommended some of his fiction, so I got to go down that rabbit hole as well (shout out to Shady Rose)
AUTHORITY by Jeff Vandermeer
Nothing makes a world-altering mass absorbing the Florida coast less sinister like the government organs set up to contain and analyze it. Prove you aren’t a band wagoner by following the individual known as Control, as they attempt to maintain some sort of order and stability over the illusive area X. As always, any answers prove illusory.
THE PASSAGE by Justin Cronin
If you seek vampire epics but find both genres to be played out, this is the series for you. With unpredictable twists and perfectly executed time jumps, this is the millennia-spanning, confounding saga that brings spontaneity and originality back into a well-worn genre.