James Wade really impressed me with his latest release, BEASTS OF THE EARTH. It’s written in the style of great, serious fiction and called to mind tales of the modern West by writers like Cormac McCarthy and playwright Sam Shepard.

The novel’s very likable protagonist is Harlen LeBlanc, an employee of the Carter Hills High School grounds department. Harlen will make readers of the classics instantly think of characters like John Steinbeck’s immortal Lenny from OF MICE AND MEN. He is not exactly a simpleton, but he is quite reserved and soft-spoken --- enough to have most people believe that he is not the brightest bulb on the tree but a sweet soul nevertheless.

"I cannot recommend this exhilarating and soul-filled novel strongly enough for those who don’t believe that modern literature can hark back to the days of writers like Steinbeck."

However, an act of unthinkable violence will change everything for Harlen and force him to take action in an effort to save his co-worker, Gene Thomas, who is named the prime suspect in the brutal murder of Cassie Harper, a young lady he had been seeing. After his incarceration, Harlen meets with Gene, who swears he had nothing to do with Cassie’s death. That is enough to convince Harlen that he must do something to clear his friend, who he knows already has been found guilty by the news media and in the court of public opinion.

Harlen’s easygoing demeanor hides a much darker interior. In 1965, a convicted killer returned home to his family, which had a negative impact on his young son. It is fairly easy to identify this boy as Harlen. However, Wade peels back the onion on that story in such a subtle way that it will both move and surprise readers. All the while, that subtext from the past provides a resonance that rings throughout the entire narrative and continued to catch me by surprise.

Wade certainly has a way with the written word and creates images and moods of this small Texas town that become so vivid in the mind’s eye. Harlen’s missions, set within different timelines, are incredibly deep explorations of a three-dimensional and fully developed character for whom readers should immediately have an affinity.

Harlen LeBlanc is destined to go down as one of the great characters in recent fiction. I cannot recommend this exhilarating and soul-filled novel strongly enough for those who don’t believe that modern literature can hark back to the days of writers like Steinbeck.