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Still haunted

Cover of The Gone Dead
A review of The Gone Dead by Chanelle Benz

When Billie James inherits a little money, her grandmother's cabin and her dog in Greendale, Mississippi, she decides on a visit in hopes of re-connecting with her past. She has few memories of the rundown (even more so now) Mississippi Delta town and its inhabitants, but has always been curious about the events of her last visit when she was four years old. It was then that her father died in a drunken accident. Or so she was told. As she begins to re-familiarize herself with the town, her relatives, and the townsfolk, Billie learns that she was there the night her father died and that perhaps his death was no accident. She's determined to delve into that night and discover what she once knew and how he died. She hits wall after wall. No one wants to dig up all those old secrets.

This is Chanelle Benz's debut novel and wow! It's pretty incredible. Benz uses multiple points of view to tell the story and each has a distinct voice and viewpoint (so that we get a solid picture of who and what this town is). Though the writing is spare and carefully paced, the tension just builds and builds as she explores the racial history of a rural southern town and the lingering impacts it has on the residents to this day.

Feb 19, 2024