BULL MOUNTAIN is one of the great books of 2015. It will cause your heart to race and your jaw to drop. It’s full to jamming with bad guys and worse guys, fallen angels and ascendant demons, courage and cowardice, justice and revenge. While correctly classified as a thriller, it is by no means limited to that or any other genre. If you enjoy good literature --- or just reading, period --- you should put it at the top of your go-to list. Now.

Debut author Brian Panowich is a marvel, perfectly balancing characters and plot as he navigates his readers through the history of the outlaw Burroughs family from a pivotal moment in 1949 --- when one line of the Burroughs lineage was brought to an abrupt end --- through 2015. The overwhelming majority of the story takes place on and around Bull Mountain, Georgia, the elevated residence and business place of the Burroughs family, which for generations has serviced those with a thirst and taste for the illicit and illegal ---  first with moonshine whiskey and later, as desires change, with crystal meth.

"BULL MOUNTAIN is one of the great books of 2015. It will cause your heart to race and your jaw to drop.... Think of redneck noir elevated to Greek tragedy, and you will have a rough idea of what to expect when you pick up this instant classic."

The focus of BULL MOUNTAIN is on the split in the current generation. Clayton Burroughs has chosen a different path from his ancestors, deciding to be the sheriff of the county that geographically includes Bull Mountain but in practice is far beyond his jurisdiction. Clayton is understandably estranged from his older brother Halford, who is the outlaw’s family patriarch. An uneasy territorial balance exists between the two men until Simon Holly, unannounced and unexpected, arrives in Clayton’s office. Holly is a special agent with the ATF and presents Clayton with a no-win proposition. He spells out the agency’s plan to shut down Halford’s operation, take all of his assets and incarcerate him. However, he is willing to forego this if Halford will get out of the drug business and turn state’s evidence on the family’s longstanding partner, the head of a powerful motorcycle gang out of Florida.

The fallout from Holly’s visit, proposition and presence resonates throughout the book as the narrative bounces back and forth between the latter half of the 20th century and the present, culminating in an explosive revelation from which the sins of the father are visited upon the sons in very different but equally explosive ways. By the time the dust settles and the smoke clears, few are innocent, and fewer still are left standing.

BULL MOUNTAIN is a dark and violent novel that is beautifully told. Think of redneck noir elevated to Greek tragedy, and you will have a rough idea of what to expect when you pick up this instant classic. There are sections of the book that are not for the fainthearted, but even the most tragic passages are never presented gratuitously. Panowich has penned a wondrous tale that flawlessly interlocks the past with the present and displays in stark relief how actions both good and bad have unintended consequences that resonate unexpectedly far beyond their point of origin.