In the powerful mystery from Julia Keller, a murder investigation leads West Virginia prosecuting attorney Bell Elkins to the shattering truth about her own past.
Based on a real-life event, Pulitzer Prize-winner Julia Keller’s Bell Elkins novel Fast Falls the Night takes place in a single 24-hour period, unfurling against the backdrop of a shattering personal revelation that will change Bell’s life forever.
The first drug overdose comes just after midnight, when a young woman dies on the dirty floor of a gas station bathroom. To the people of the small town of Acker’s Gap, West Virginia, it is just another tragedy. It is sad―but these days, depressingly familiar.
But then there is another overdose. And another. And another.
Prosecutor Bell Elkins soon realizes that her Appalachian hometown is facing its starkest challenge yet: a day of constant heroin overdoses from a batch tainted with a lethal tranquilizer. While the clock ticks and the bodies fall, Bell and her colleagues desperately track the source of the deadly drug―and engage in fierce debates over the wisdom of expending precious resources to save the lives of self-destructive addicts.
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“She builds her plot skillfully to a conclusion that delivers multiple shocks and raises questions for future installments. She writes with gritty realism and often with lyrical beauty. Keller infuses her fiction with humanity—at its best, at its worst, and in its everyday struggles.”
— Richmond Times-Dispatch
“Keller does a terrific job of rubbing our faces in the troubles of her hometown—of America’s hometowns.”
— New York Times“This outstanding, taut mystery presents an important social issue with compassion and great humanity.”
— Library Journal (starred review)“Keller’s prose is so pure that her exploration of the desperate scourge of drugs and poverty and her forecast of a grim future for her heroine is a joy to read.“
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)“Keller’s series featuring Bell Elkins is remarkable for its humanity and its fully realized characters. Keller’s finely honed prose and emotional depth mark this series as exceptional in the world of crime fiction.”
— Booklist (starred review)Be the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Julia Keller was born and raised in West Virginia, and now lives in Ohio. In her career as a journalist, she won the Pulitzer Prize for a three-part series she wrote for the Chicago Tribune about a small town in Illinois rocked by a deadly tornado. A Killing in the Hills was her first mystery.
Shannon McManus, award-winning narrator, is a Los Angeles–based actor, writer, and voice artist. Her natural vocal abilities and extensive theater training have led to work in audiobook narration, commercial voice-over, and animation. Critical praise includes an Audiofile Earphones Award and a Publishers Weekly Listen Up! Award in children’s and young adult fiction.