Red Grass River

MORE PRAISE FOR JAMES CARLOS BLAKE’S

Red Grass River

“Once in a while a novel comes along that is so entertaining, so smart, and so expertly crafted that, when you’re done reading it, you want to holler, ‘Hot damn’ and read that novel all over again. Red Grass River is exactly such a novel…. Blake’s prose, a coarse and gritty and seamless poetry that fistfights and breaks the law and takes no prisoners, is the very music of the swamps.”

—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“Evoking the primal extravagance of the vanished south Florida wilderness, L.A. Times Book Prize winner Blake offers up a spell-binding tale…. Family loyalties, feral mysticism, and the inexorable erosion of a way of life are grandly imagined in this vivid saga of a freewheeling past.”

—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Riveting…swift-moving…. Blake paints a setting of subtle beauty…. But the Everglades also turns red in this story from the blood spilled into it.”

—Austin American-Statesman

“Plain good fun…. Blake perfectly captures the language and attitude of the independent, cocksure wilderness families. John Ashley is a well-drawn, colorful protagonist.”

—Cleveland Plain Dealer

“A saga of the seedier side of the early pioneers in Florida…. Colorful and entertaining. The novel is gritty, rustic, and raw…. The tone is brisk and literary.”

—Tampa Tribune

“A Prohibition-era tale that rivals the legends of John Dillinger and Clyde Barrow for bravado and daring…a wonderful tale of outlaw heroics and the growth of south Florida from swamp into vacation mecca—too good to be missed.”

—Library Journal (starred review)