The Far Empty

by J. Todd Scott Narrated by T. Ryder Smith

Overview

In this gritty crime debut set in the stark Texas borderlands, an unearthed skeleton will throw a small town into violent turmoil. Seventeen-year-old Caleb Ross is adrift in the wake of the sudden disappearance of his mother more than a year ago, and is struggling to find his way out of the small Texas border town of Murfee. Chris Cherry is a newly minted sheriff's deputy, a high school football hero who has reluctantly returned to his hometown. When skeletal remains are discovered in the surrounding badlands, the two are inexorably drawn together as their efforts to uncover Murfee's darkest secrets lead them to the same terrifying suspect: Caleb's father and Chris's boss, the charismatic and feared Sheriff Standford "Judge" Ross. Dark, elegiac, and violent, The Far Empty is a modern Western, a story of loss and escape set along the sharp edge of the Texas border. Told by a longtime federal agent who knows the region, it's a debut novel you won't soon forget.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

★ 04/11/2016
Federal agent Scott’s knowledge of the border country of West Texas is on fine display in his outstanding debut. Deputy Sheriff Chris Cherry, a former high school football hero who’s recently returned to his hometown of Murfee, Tex., is sure that the skeletal remains found in the desert are the result of murder, and that the victim isn’t just another anonymous illegal immigrant. Meanwhile, 17-year-old Caleb Ross struggles to make sense of his mother’s disappearance a year earlier. His only friend at school is America Reynosa, whose older brother, Rodolfo, has also recently vanished. Caleb is convinced that his father, Sheriff Stanford “Judge” Ross, whose reputation for brutality and ruthlessness are legendary, is behind it all. Judge has run the town of Murfee for years, but his new deputy’s discovery opens the lid on a whole mess of trouble that, for the first time, he might not be able to contain. Scott’s skills as a storyteller are impressive, and his tale of an ambitious young lawman has echoes of the movie Shane and the books of Cormac McCarthy. Agent: Carlie Webber, CK Webber Associates. (June)

From the Publisher

Praise for The Far Empty

“[J. Todd Scott] has written a story that smartly captures the vast skies, bleak beauty and unchecked wildness of deepest West Texas...fast-moving...Intriguing...a frank, unpolished view of life near the border...[The Far Empty] is an impressive debut—a memorable story and a rich portrayal of West Texas, a ‘godforsaken place where there's more blood in the ground than water.’”—Houston Chronicle

“Gritty and raw, steeped in violence, this modern Western explores the black heart of the human soul. Excelling in his portrayal of evil, Scott draws a bleak countryside that hides drug running, deceit and murder.”—RT Book Reviews

“An atmospheric noir about drug runners and crooked West Texas border cops written by an ex–DEA agent who knows the territory, this debut thriller looks like the real deal… Scott juggles his cast of heroic, flawed, and monstrous characters with the skill of a far more experienced writer… Scott is, as they say, one to watch.”—Texas Monthly

“The rough and bloody borderlands of west Texas provide the backdrop for this rousing debut novel, a hybrid of mystery and contemporary western.”—Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“[J. Todd Scott]’s career starts with a bang.”—El Paso Times

“This first-time novelist’s familiarity with his setting and its habitués shines through on every page.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Federal agent Scott’s knowledge of the border country of West Texas is on fine display in his outstanding debut...Scott’s skills as a storyteller are impressive, and his tale of an ambitious young lawman has echoes of the movie Shane and the books of Cormac McCarthy.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“This thriller sprawls like the West Texas land of its setting, and, like all those arid miles, it’s fraught with mystery and echoes of a violent past....Scott tells his story in a style placid on the surface and churning underneath, like water about to boil, and, when it does so, it erupts into a series of fine, violent action scenes.”—Booklist

“Thrilling, suspenseful and psychologically perceptive...Terrific...So well written that you just go with the bloody flow.”—Providence Journal

“J. Todd Scott's Far Empty is so good I wish I’d written it. The poetic and bloody ground of west Texas has given birth to a powerful new voice in contemporary western crime fiction.”—Craig Johnson, New York Times-bestselling author of the Walt Longmire Series

“J. Todd Scott is the real deal. The Far Empty is an astonishing, accomplished debut crime novel worthy of award consideration.”—Michael McGarrity, New York Times bestselling author

“A haunting, gritty novel of modern Texas that brings to mind John Sayles's seminal film, Lone Star. As a real-life federal lawman, Scott not only knows the battered terrain but the wounded people who call it home. I loved the authenticity of this forgotten wasteland and the last breaths of the Code of the West.”—Ace Atkins, New York Times Bestselling author of The Innocents

“Balancing both the brutal and beautiful, J. Todd Scott has delivered a story that hangs around the neck long after the final page. Fearless, searing prose that reeks of honesty, The Far Empty is as gritty and raw as sun-scorched earth.”—David Joy, author of Where All Light Tends to Go 

Booklist

This thriller sprawls like the West Texas land of its setting, and, like all those arid miles, it's fraught with mystery and echoes of a violent past... Scott tells his story in a style placid on the surface and churning underneath, like water about to boil, and, when it does so, it erupts into a series of fine, violent action scenes. Does the finale really clear up the mysteries? Not all of them, but some should stay mysterious. That's their power-and part of this edgy novel's appeal.

Kirkus Reviews

2016-03-17
The discovery of a body on the Tex-Mex border fuels a teenager's suspicions about his father, the local sheriff, in this debut thriller by a longtime Drug Enforcement Administration agent. Seventeen-year-old Caleb Ross has been living in an uneasy truce with his authoritarian father ever since his mother disappeared. His father claims the woman, whom he's forbidden his son to speak of, left him for another man. Caleb believes his mother met a violent end, and when a flexi-cuffed corpse is discovered near a crossing point for illegal immigrants, the small Texas town's new deputy, Chris Cherry, begins to have doubts about his boss as well. The book, in which each chapter is told from a separate character's point of view—though only Caleb's chapters are in the first person—eschews the tight, compact, punchy prose that a writer like Jim Thompson might have used on this material. It's aiming for epic status. But the length (more than 400 pages), the humorlessness, the inclusion of more and more plot points (drug smuggling, murdered DEA agents, the sheriff's advances on the town's new young teacher) don't add up to good storytelling or suspense. Instead, the book offers an insistent showy grimness. It's the kind of novel in which as soon as a child gets a pet, you know some baddie is going to kill it, the kind where racial epithets abound not because it's how the characters talk but because it allows the author to show how tough-minded he is. The journey to the end is almost as taxing as that faced by the book's put-upon migrants.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171112790
Publisher:	Recorded Books, LLC
Publication date:	06/07/2016
Series:	Sheriff Chris Cherry , #1
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

1 CHRIS
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "The Far Empty"
by .
Copyright © 2018 J. Todd Scott.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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