The Bayou Trilogy, Daniel Woodrell
The Bayou Trilogy, Daniel Woodrell
List: $31.99 | Sale: $22.40
Club: $15.99

The Bayou Trilogy
Under the Bright Lights, Muscle for the Wing, and The Ones You Do

Author: Daniel Woodrell

Narrator: Bronson Pinchot

Unabridged: 15 hr 3 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/15/2022

Synopsis

A hard-hitting, critically acclaimed trilogy of crime novels from an author about whom New York magazine has written, "What people say about Cormac McCarthy . . . goes double for [Woodrell]. Possibly more."

In the parish of St. Bruno, sex is easy, corruption festers, and double-dealing is a way of life. Rene Shade is an uncompromising detective swimming in a sea of filth.

As Shade takes on hit men, porn kings, a gang of ex-cons, and the ghosts of his own checkered past, Woodrell's three seminal novels pit long-entrenched criminals against the hard line of the law, brother against brother, and two vastly different sons against a long-absent father.

The Bayou Trilogy highlights the origins of a one-of-a-kind author, a writer who for over two decades has created an indelible representation of the shadows of the rural American experience and has steadily built a devoted following among crime fiction aficionados and esteemed literary critics alike.

About Daniel Woodrell

Five of Daniel Woodrell's published novels were selected as New York Times Notable Books of the Year. Tomato Red won the PEN West Award for the Novel in 1999. Woodrell lives in the Ozarks near the Arkansas line with his wife, Katie Estill.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Jonathan on January 28, 2020

Yet another DNF to the list due to slogging pace, over use of colloquialisms and characters that lack depth, especially the protagonist. Having read many books by Southern authors, I had high hopes. Oh well on to greater things!......more

Goodreads review by Michael on January 14, 2015

Woodrell introduces us to a passel of lurid characters that never fail to entertain. He runs the fine satirical line between mocking them and making these characters real and relatable. Demonstrating a thorough understanding of the Bayou's seedy underside, Woodrell crafts fascinating stories that le......more

Goodreads review by Josh on October 10, 2012

"...there was Frogtown, the white-trash Paris, where the wide brown flow of rank water scented all the days, and everfy set of toes touched bottom." Flecks of dried blood and dirt stick equal in Woodrell’s look at small town where multiple criminal entities thrive on their unlawful activities. The do......more

Goodreads review by Kenneth on March 27, 2011

Rene Shade is a detective in the Parish of St. Bruno, Louisiana. However, as a series, this is not really a detective story. In the beginning we focus on a man (Shade) who straddles the fence of legality in a town where he is both a former local celebrity as a boxer and a longtime acquaintance and r......more

Goodreads review by John Hood on June 12, 2011

Bound: Down on the Bayou SunPost Weekly May 19, 2011 | John Hood [URL not allowed] Daniel Woodrell Writes the Lives Behind its Crimes As the Atchafalaya River Basin begins to flood one can’t help thinkin’ that maybe the authorities have read Daniel Woodrell and come away believin’ the folks who liv......more

Quotes

"Woodrell writes drolly and pungently of rednecks and swamp rats with the affection and exasperation of a man who has spent his life among them ... The Bayou Trilogy stands with the best crime fiction of its period."—St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"Old fans and new readers alike out to be grateful....The novels showcase Woodrell's evolution as a writer....Woodrell's The Bayou Trilogy supplies all the pleasure of hard-boiled noir: laconic cynicism, casually colorful characters (a diner owner, for instance, is described as having 'slightly more than a basic issue of a nose') and a hero whose feet of clay make his dedication to law and order all the more admirable."—Chicago Tribune

"There's poetry in Woodrell's mayhem, each novel-and scene-full of gritty and memorable Cajun details."—Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Really cool . . . Jump on these three top-shelf books."—Library Journal

"The Bayou Trilogy is more than a landmark of crime fiction; it is an impressive and important addition to American letters. Bravo, Daniel Woodrell, and long live Rene Shade."—PulpSerenade.com

"What people say about Cormac McCarthy . . . goes double for [Woodrell]. Possibly more."—New York Magazine

A backcountry Shakespeare . . . The inhabitants of Daniel Woodrell's fiction often have a streak that's not just mean but savage; yet physical violence does not dominate his books. What does dominate is a seasoned fatalism . . . Woodrell has tapped into a novelist's honesty, and lucky for us, he's remorseless that way."—Los Angeles Times

"Daniel Woodrell writes in sentences that could be ancient carvings on a tree."—Chicago Tribune

"Woodrell is the least-known major writer in the country right now."—Dennis Lehane, USA Today

"Daniel Woodrell has quietly built a career that whould be the envy of most American novelists today."—Washington Times

Add to Cart
Add to Wish List