Review: IT DIES WITH YOU

IT DIES WITH YOU by Scott Blackburn (Crooked Lane Books, 2022)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

For nearly a decade, twenty-nine-year-old Hudson Miller has made his living in the boxing ring, but a post-fight brawl threatens to derail his career. Desperate for money, Hudson takes a gig as a bouncer at a dive bar. That’s when life delivers him another hook to the jaw: his estranged father, Leland, has been murdered in what appears to be a robbery-gone-bad at his salvage yard, Miller’s Pull-a-Part.

Soon after his father’s funeral, Hudson learns he’s inherited the salvage yard, and he returns to his Bible-belt hometown of Flint Creek, North Carolina, to run the business. But the business is far more than junk cars and scrap metal. It was the site of an illegal gun-running ring. And the secrets don’t end there; a grisly discovery is made at the yard that thrusts Hudson into the fight of his life.

North Carolina author Scott Blackburn pulls a nifty feint with his gritty, character-centric rural noir tale It Dies With You: he’s a first-time novelist but if you didn’t know that you’d swear you were in the hands of someone with plenty of books under their belt.

Hudson Miller is a boxer who can’t box, relegated to bouncing at a dive bar thanks to a post-fight brawl that threatens his living. The punches keep coming when Hudson learns his estranged father Leland has been shot in the back of the head at his scrapyard. The cops think it’s a robbery gone wrong. Having been arrested at his father’s wedding, Hudson is surprised to find he’s inherited some rental trailer homes and the scrapyard. Returning to his Bible-belt hometown of Flint Creek, he’s unprepared for all he’ll uncover. Was his father part of an illegal gun-running ring? Then, a grisly discovery.

Forming an unlikely trio with his father’s crotchety employee, Charlie, who’s closer to 80 than 60, and sparkplug teenager Lucy Reyes who’s seeking justice for a death in her own family, Hudson peels the skin from what’s really been going on in Flint Creek. 

Marvellous storytelling with terrific characters and a strong voice. 

If you’re a reader who enjoys the ‘grit lit’ of authors like Wiley Cash, David Joy, or Brian Panowich, this is a must-have for your shelves. More please.

Craig Sisterson is a lawyer turned features writer who's interviewed hundreds of crime writers and talked about the genre on national radio, top podcasts, and onstage at festivals on three continents. He's been a judge of Australian, Scottish, and NZ crime writing awards, and is co-founder of Rotorua Noir. He's the author of the HRF Keating award-shortlisted non-fiction book SOUTHERN CROSS CRIME, and the series editor of acclaimed anthology DARK DEEDS DOWN UNDER. You can heckle him on Twitter.