Kings of the Earth

The three Proctor brothers raise dairy cattle in upstate New York. For decades they have neither laundered nor bathed, and their stench is legendary. When one of them dies suspiciously in the bed they share, the law steps in, so it's just a matter of time before the marijuana operation their nephew runs gets discovered. Clinch's (www.jonclinch.com) Faulknerian second novel follows the American Library Association Notable Book Finn (2007), also available from Recorded Books, and features asynchronous storytelling, multiple points of view, a rural setting, and some degraded, nearly subhuman characters. Multiple narrators voice the different folk in sections sometimes as short as a single line. Either darkly comic or relentlessly depressing, depending on one's perspective; a good bet for literary fiction enthusiasts. [The Random hc received a starred review, LJ 4/15/10.—Ed.]—John Hiett, Iowa City P.L.