Sign-In
Cart
Backwater
Hardcover
Mystery & ThrillerGeneral Fiction
Publisher Price: $28.95
Please select the version of book you would like to purchase.
ISBN10: 1641298596
ISBN13: 9781641298599
Publisher: Soho Crime
Published: Sep 1 2026
Pages: 208
Weight: 0.80
Height: 0.84 Width: 5.80 Depth: 8.50
Language: English
ISBN13: 9781641298599
Publisher: Soho Crime
Published: Sep 1 2026
Pages: 208
Weight: 0.80
Height: 0.84 Width: 5.80 Depth: 8.50
Language: English
This final masterpiece from James Sallis (1944-2026) follows a jazz guitarist's ruminative and disquieting homecoming when an old friend asks him to help investigate a suspicious death. Perhaps best known for the neo-noir classic Drive, James Sallis explored the nature of violence, hope, and the strength of the human spirit in his existentialist crime and science fiction. Backwater places itself among these gritty themes with a complex, purposefully oblique work that honors Sallis's origins in the rural Mississippi Delta.
When an old friend from his days on the police force makes a plea for him to come and help with what seems to be a murder case, jazz guitarist Bishop steps back into a former life. Two major problems, though. The job's in the town where he grew up, to which he vowed never to return. And his friend disappears, leaving Bishop with responsibilities he never anticipated or wanted. Not to mention a couple more murders. Bishop slips into his old role as easily as into well-worn, comfortable old clothes. Getting his bearings in the town's close society and among his own memories is a different matter. As Bishop buoys the lives of the survivors around him, this police procedural becomes a poignant examination of human nature that ripples with hope and compassion of spirit in the face of indifference and despair. Backwater is the breathtaking swan song of James Sallis, an author who tirelessly invested dignity into all his characters--no matter how far on the edge of society they live, and no matter how unsolvable their inner mysteries may be.
Also from
Sallis, James
Also in
Mystery & Thriller
Sabine's Notebook: In Which the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin & Sabine Continues
Bantock, Nick
Hardcover
$10.99
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Movie Tie-In Edition): Book 1 of the Millennium Trilogy
Larsson, Stieg
Paperback
$9.99
The Golden Mean: In Which the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin & Sabine Concludes
Bantock, Nick
Hardcover
$9.99
The Pirate Queen: A Novel from the New York Times Bestselling Author of the Frozen River
Lawhon, Ariel
Hardcover
$28.80
Big Little Truths: Reese's Book Club: A Novel: The Sequel to Big Little Lies
Moriarty, Liane
Hardcover
$30.60
The Altar of Pergamon: The Mystery of the Dark Angel and the Future of the World
Cahn, Jonathan
Hardcover
$28.49