Go With Me: A Novel

Hanover, NH, Steerforth Press (2008)

160 pages Hardcover $21.95

ISBN 978-1-58642-139-7

Trade paperback edition, New York, Harper Perennial 2009

176 pages includes “P.S. Insights, Interviews, & More” $12.99

Published in the United Kingdom by Duckworth Overlook Publishers, London (2009)

Published in Spain by Mondadori,  Barcelona (2009)

Published in Italy by Marcos y Marcos, Milan (2011)

Downloadable electronic book for Amazon’s Kindle, etc. – $9.87

Find an  Independent Bookseller near you 

 

DESCRIPTION

The Vermont hill country is the stark, vivid setting for this gripping and entertaining story of bold determination. The local villain, Blackway, is making life hellish for Lillian, a young woman from parts elsewhere. Her boyfriend has fled the state in fear, and local law enforcement can do nothing to protect her. She resolves, however, to stand her ground, and to fight back, with the aid of a pair of unlikely allies—Lester, a crafty old-timer, and Nate, a powerful but naïve youth. In this modern-day quest, a kind of Greek chorus of local men—wry, witty, digressive; obsessively, amusingly reminiscent; skeptical, opinionated, and not always entirely sober—enriches the telling of the tale as the reader follows the threesome’s progress on their dangerous, suspenseful journey.

EXCERPT

Loggers, hunters, campers, hikers had gone into the Lost Towns and never been seen again. More than a few, over the years. Ten or twelve men and women had simply disappeared up there.

It wouldn’t have been hard to do. The Towns were a big piece of real estate: a hundred square miles of nothing but woods, ravines, beaver ponds, and silent little brooks that made their hidden ways under the dark and tangled branches of the firs. In the entire tract, there was one road, no village, no building larger than a hunting camp and no more than two or three of those. (Chapter 14)

REVIEWS

“A small masterpiece of black comedy and suspense about a trio of backwoods heroes who embark upon a modern-day quest. . . . If all novels were this good, Americans would read more.”—Kirkus

 

“A fast, memorable read gooey with atmosphere, Go With Me is a gem that sparkles with sly insight and cuts like a knife.”—The Boston Globe

 

“This nimble thriller is the literary equivalent of a fierce bantamweight fighter: short but muscular and lightning quick, it packs a surprising punch. . . . Freeman has a flawless ear for dialogue and a sharp eye for quirky detail. . . . Superb.”—People (four stars)

 

“Castle Freeman, Jr. packs more story into 160 pages than more famous authors could fit into twice as many. . . . Go With Me is a dialogue-driven, take-the-law-into-your-own-hands story that is slick with humor and musings on pop culture, aging, and American women.”—USA Today

 

“There is a clear moral arc to this storyline, and suspense, too, but Go With Me is a literary novel, with echoes of Deliverance and Cormac McCarthy. . . . Mr. Freeman adroitly captures the feel of played out Vermont towns and people, and his dialogue has a terse, almost humorous cadence.”  —Wall Street Journal

 

“An elegant little thriller about cunning versus cruelty. . . . A pure delight, thanks to Freeman’s streamlined storytelling, dead-on dialogue, and lyrical descriptions of the bleak, woodsy landscape.”—O, the Oprah Magazine

 

“Like its young heroine, Lillian, Freeman’s trim powerhouse is a pistol. . . . His beautifully cadenced dialogue is rich with humor, philosophic depth and a near-mythic sensibility.”—Publisher’s Weekly

 

“New book gets good critical reception for bad writing. . . . The dialogue acts in a superficial ‘hard-boiled’ manner that barely masks its artifice [sic], meaningless repetition, and relentless banality.”—Columbia Spectator

 

“What a spiffy little yarn, loose and funny and, at a few key junctures, righteously bloody. . . . The book takes just a few hours to read—about the running time of the swell indie movie someone should make from this offbeat charmer.”  —Entertainment Weekly

 

“This unusual little gem of a book is part comic romp and part nail-biting thriller. . . . Castle Freeman writes with both wit and a deep understanding of the human psyche, and he does not cheat us out of a dramatic climax.”  —The Guardian (UK)