"What if your dad killed JFK and you'd spent your adult life trying to pin the murder on him? That's the juicy premise here," and the underlying quest involving the assassin's son and sister "proves achingly compelling." -- Frank Sennett of Booklist
"An intriguing, exquisitely written conspiracy thriller." -- The Irish Independent, Dublin
The Invisible World conjures a realm of hidden truths and intrigue in which the familiar is the most mysterious force of all.
In the frozen reaches of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, fierce winter storms can hit without notice. In the white translucence of one such blizzard, Norman Haas simply walks away from his prison work detail without detection.
After agonizing days of blistering cold, Norman finds himself at the farmhouse of a lonely middle-aged woman who gives him temporary shelter while keeping him at a comfortable distance with her late husband’s shotgun. When she tries to turn him in, he escapes again. Thus begins a riveting story of Norman’s journey back to his past, back to the woman he loved—and still loves—who betrayed him, back to the brother who helped put him away, and back to a dangerous web of family allegiances, deceptions, and intrigue.
On Norman’s trail is Del Maki, the hardworking sheriff of Yellow Dog Township, a fork in the road on the way to Canada. Cold takes us deep into an intricate, fascinating tale, where love, greed, and the promise of a last chance compel six people toward a chilling and inevitable reckoning.
"COLD is a finely crafted, wild yarn set in the great north. John Smolens gives us a suspenseful tale in a style somewhere between Jack London and Raymond Chandler. A fine read." -- Jim Harrison (author of Legends of the Fall)
Cold is a literary thriller in the vein of Fargo and A Simple Plan.
These nine stories chart emotional and spiritual boundaries of the human experience. Teenage boys search for sex, love and bomb shelters amid the lawns of suburban Boston. A homeless woman pursues the Pope by phone. In the frozen north, a prison escape plays out the delicate balance between compassion and betrayal. Set in off-season Cape Cod to the urban streets of Southern California, Smolens' stories often combine the raw force of a blizzard with the emotional confinement of a confessional.
Set on an isolated island off Cape Cod, the story of a series of small town murders, and the race to find the killer. Great atmosphere and authentic detail—set against a local fishing village and the howling winds off the cape.
"Smolens' prose ... is an understated marvel." -- Publisher's Weekly
John Smolens, professor of English at Northern Michigan University, is the author of four novels and a collection of short stories.
A literary mystery set in a small town on the Massachussetts coast, in winter.
Optioned for a feature film, Winter By Degrees delivers "gritty dialogue and earthy atmosphere." -- Kirkus Reviews
"What holds our attention is the rich atmosphere, the chill desolation of a shore town in midwinter. John Smolens knows his territory, social as well as geographical and proves it in his first novel." --Boston Sunday Globe
"A promising debut." --Chicago Tribune
"...delivers gritty dialogue and earthy atmosphere." --Kirkus
"Richly textured and intriguing. A gritty tale of mystery and violence...."
--Lansing State Journal
"Rich in detail....Captures the sense of gloom that hangs over seaside communities in the winter as if a tragedy is just around every corner."
--Cape Cod Chronicle
John Smolens, professor of English at Northern Michigan University, is the author of three novels and a collection of short stories.
