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Desolation Run Hardcover – 16 May 2023
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70-something Oreny "Big" Johnson has a problem. Actually, he has two. Or maybe three. The first is that he'll be dead from cancer, less than a year, which doesn't particularly concern him: "Things I've been through, dying is just one more page in a long bad book." But spending his last living days, taking his last living breath, behind steel bars does.
That's the second problem: Inmate #78903 in the notorious level-four Washington State prison known as Horseneck Bay. Then there's the money. Two million dollars of stolen military payroll, supposedly buried in some remote and mysterious south-Texas mountain range called Los Despoblados, or The Uninhabited, which sounds to Oreny like one of those places his Mama Maybell always told him to avoid. But he'll worry about that later. He has to get there first. Problem number three.
That's when he brings those two smoldering dynamite sticks he's attached himself to--his Luke-boy and Jaime--on board to help his tired old body break out of Horseneck and go dig up that money and then hightail it across the border into Mexico. And when they do break out, and Luke decides to bring his girlfriend Lauren along, and her enraged ex comes after them, and then the manhunt starts multiplying faster around them than those cancer cells inside him, Oreny still thinks he can control them. The problems, that is. At least, until Cade arrives.
Cade, the prison investigator Oreny knows is dangerous and unpredictable as a six-foot-two wolverine on eight gallons of adrenalin gone bad. And who won't stop until he catches them and does to them what Cade does best. Cade, Oreny knows better than anything else, is their biggest problem of all...
"Simultaneously brutal, bloody and beatific, this is crime fiction done right. A relentlessly paced, unpredictable page-turner powered by well-developed characters." Kirkus Reviews
- Print length332 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication date16 May 2023
- Dimensions15.84 x 2.59 x 23.46 cm
- ISBN-100991527089
- ISBN-13978-0991527083
Product details
- Publisher : Bandera Publishing Company
- Publication date : 16 May 2023
- Language : English
- Print length : 332 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0991527089
- ISBN-13 : 978-0991527083
- Item weight : 572 g
- Dimensions : 15.84 x 2.59 x 23.46 cm
- Best Sellers Rank: 103,220 in Adventure Stories & Action
- Customer reviews:
About the author

James Snyder was born in Memphis, Tennessee and lived in many parts of the United States before settling with his family in Napa Valley. Among a variety of careers and occupations, he was a soldier with a tactical mobile operations unit in Germany, as well as an executive for a Fortune 500 company.
Among others, he has published short stories in the Houghton Mifflin Black Mask anthologies, the Ginosko Literary Journal, and was a finalist in the New Letters’ Alexander Patterson Cappon Prize for Fiction. His literary works include the novels AMERICAN WARRIOR, DESOLATION RUN, THE BEAUTIFUL-UGLY, FRENCH QUARTERS, SOLDIER IN GERMANY, and the short story collection TALES OF THE LATE TWENTIETH CENTURY.
His author’s website and contact are at jamessnyder.net. He currently lives and writes in the Texas Hill Country.
Customer reviews
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book enjoyable from beginning to end, with enough plot twists to keep them engaged. The writing style receives positive feedback, with one customer comparing the landscape descriptions to Cormac McCarthy's style. Customers appreciate the well-developed characters.
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Customers find the book enjoyable from beginning to end, with one customer noting it's a real page-turner.
"I liked the fact that this a good story and different to the usual PI type scenarios. This had good story to it with different twists to ...." Read more
"Great book" Read more
"Good read..." Read more
"...Highly recommended – a real page-turner (or button-clicker, in Kindle world!)" Read more
Customers enjoy the plot twists in the book, with one describing it as a tense modern thriller.
"...than the escape , I thought it was a bit weak.mother than that, the storyline , intrigue, chase,and the suspense of whether they would actually..." Read more
"...is a hard-as-nails, yet on occasion lyrically well-written, tense modern thriller...." Read more
"...The characters, the Great American Scenery descriptions, the twists and turns, the strange little side journeys into the darknesses of life...." Read more
"...Some great twists that you do not see coming" Read more
Customers appreciate the writing style of the book, particularly its vivid descriptions of American scenery, with one customer noting it evokes Cormac McCarthy's style.
"...Perhaps a little too violent in parts, though, but, nevertheless, well written and enjoyable." Read more
"This is a hard-as-nails, yet on occasion lyrically well-written, tense modern thriller...." Read more
"This is a big widescreen book - set in huge Technicolor landscapes. Two plots converge: a small band escape from prison and head for Mexico...." Read more
"...The characters, the Great American Scenery descriptions, the twists and turns, the strange little side journeys into the darknesses of life...." Read more
Customers appreciate the character development in the book.
"...There’s a lot of bleakness, well-described scenery, good characterisation, convincing dialogue and a twisting plot...." Read more
"...A real wicked character, 3 convicts and bags of hidden cash. Excellent, definitely recommend. First read of this author, I will be dow" Read more
"...enjoyable from beginning to end. thought out characters, and well painted landscapes create a convincing narrative." Read more
"Excellent read ,a great story with interesting characters .I would recommend this book to anyone who likes american thrillers or crime ." Read more
Top reviews from United Kingdom
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- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 November 2016Format: Kindle EditionVerified PurchaseThis is a hard-as-nails, yet on occasion lyrically well-written, tense modern thriller. The general atmosphere reminded me very much of Cormac McCarthy’s/The Coen Brothers’ ‘No Country For Old Men’. There’s a lot of bleakness, well-described scenery, good characterisation, convincing dialogue and a twisting plot. There’s even a touch of mysticism, too. Beware (as some reviewers have mentioned), there’s lots of bad language, sex, and graphic violence. But to me, none of these things seems out of place with the author’s great writing style and plotting. Highly recommended – a real page-turner (or button-clicker, in Kindle world!)
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 September 2014Format: Kindle EditionVerified PurchaseThis is a big widescreen book - set in huge Technicolor landscapes. Two plots converge: a small band escape from prison and head for Mexico. Led by a dying man, they wander across America evading their pursuers. Meanwhile a remote ranch on the Mexican border is threatened by drug dealers who want to use it as a smuggling route. And in the background lurks the implacable Cade, who wants his revenge.
Lots of action and adventure, not all of it predictable. You do want these characters to succeed, but also recognise that (most of them) are probably doomed.
Intelligently written book, vividly set in a sweeping American landscape. In the end it was those pictures of the harsh borderlands which stayed in my head the longest.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 February 2014Format: Kindle EditionVerified PurchaseThere's not much I can say to add to the other 5-star review here already. I loved it. You have to read it.
This is the second book by James Snyder that I've read. The other was American Warrior, which impressed me enough to try his next book. I have not been disappointed. In fact, having literally just finished Desolation Run, I'm still stunned as I think back over the experience of having read it. The characters, the Great American Scenery descriptions, the twists and turns, the strange little side journeys into the darknesses of life. And the ending - which really just blew me away. I tried to predict what was coming - you know that something dark is coming - but it still grabbed me by the gut. It was a fitting way to finish such an awesome journey.
Mr Snyder, whatever you write next, I want to read it. Please be working on another dark, adult thriller. While you're doing that, I'll just re-read this one a few more times, okay?
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 October 2016Format: Kindle EditionVerified PurchaseWell written with lots of good descriptive narrative which makes you think the author has been there. However the ending is needlessly brutal and rushed and gives the impression the author has become bored with the story and just wants to finish it. Once started you will find it hard to put this book down.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 29 August 2018Format: Kindle EditionVerified PurchaseKept me interested all the way through, some graphic violence, so if you are squeamish this is not for you. Some great twists that you do not see coming
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 August 2024Format: Kindle EditionVerified PurchaseWow, this was really clever. It took me a couple of chapters to get in to the flow, but once I got to grips with the characters and their back stories, i absolutely loved it. A real wicked character, 3 convicts and bags of hidden cash. Excellent, definitely recommend. First read of this author, I will be dow
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 January 2015Format: Kindle EditionVerified PurchaseVery well written. The characterisation is excellent, the plot is convincing and the landscape descriptions are evocotive of Cormac McCarthy. Highly recommended.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 January 2016Format: Kindle EditionVerified PurchaseThis was the first book I have read by this author, and will not buy another one. The plot whilst being good, was overshadowed by too involved descriptions of the scenery, but the overriding thing was to bad language !!!! the biggest part of the dialogue was given over to foul language, I do not wish to spend money buying a book to be verbally assaulted in the way,
Top reviews from other countries
- garry johnsonReviewed in Australia on 8 January 2017
4.0 out of 5 stars exciting. recommended.
Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchasethis is a great book. good writing, interesting characters. enjoyed the road trip thru western and southern usa. ending maybe a little too dramatic.
- CazulpReviewed in Canada on 2 March 2020
5.0 out of 5 stars Plausible story and a good read
Format: Kindle EditionVerified PurchaseThis is the first time I have read this author. Thoroughly enjoyed the story line and would read other books he has written.
- H. HotopReviewed in Germany on 1 March 2016
5.0 out of 5 stars Glad I came across this one :-)
Format: Kindle EditionVerified PurchaseVery well written novel, very evocative. Diverse, complex characters, heading towards something that's far too big for them to handle.
- RiderReviewed in the United States on 29 October 2014
5.0 out of 5 stars My Highest Praise for your literary accomplishment, Mr. Snyder, and I am eager to read MORE!
Format: Kindle EditionVerified PurchaseI don't review most of the books I read by relatively new, or "up and coming" authors, because they often fall somewhere near the middle of the bell curve for various reasons. If I find one either especially bad, I try to warn other readers, since almost everyone "publishing" these days seems to have a stable of loyal friends and family willing to pad even the most agregious blater with positive "reviews". Conversely, when, in my opinion, I do find a new author who seems to really stand head and shoulders above the pack relative to talent, originality, and virtuosity, It only seems fair to give their work a nod of praise and recognition. James Snyder's Desolation Run shows the kind of writing prowess, intelligent observation and expression, and uninhibited confidence found more typically in a well established author with legions of fans. This novel satsfied me in ways few have of late. I need characters I can believe, want to spend time with, and are complex, flawed, vulnerable and noble. I want my villains to be just as real and tortured as my heroes, and I don't want anything spoon fed to me. However the authentic character development forms but the foundation for the authors pehaps most gratifying gift to the reader; that being his ability to engross you immediately in an adventure so unpredictable, both breathlessly beautiful and horrifying, that though you want to at least briefly step away from the expereince unfolding before you, yet can't bear turning off the light for the night.
- Cozmickid80Reviewed in the United States on 17 May 2025
4.0 out of 5 stars What a fabulous story
Format: Kindle EditionVerified PurchaseTitled like it is, I wasn't expecting a Disney story, but I was still surprised by the gritty, desperate, and often brutal way this story unfolded. I felt moments of sparse, fragile hope that seemed pointless, as well as moments of surprise that things had somehow worked out.
Always, there was the knowledge of ambient dread; of the growing feeling of disaster building momentum towards some awful conclusion, but I couldn't turn away.
And I couldn't turn away because the characters were so skillfully written that, even the ones I didn't like I believed and needed to see through to the end.
And what an end!
I highly recommend this book.