To Die in California by the late Newton Thornburg (
Wikipedia), some of whose novels you might have seen adapted to film, especially if you happen to keep up with Australian cinema offerings, is his vintage criminal suspense thriller, starring an Illinois farmer who begins to dig into the mystery behind his son's apparent suicide and in the process uncovers not only dark and terrible secrets within his late son's life, but also deep within himself as he begins to uncover those responsible, free courtesy of publisher Diversion Books, who are e-printing it from its 1972 Little Brown hardcover edition.
NB: as a vintage offering, there may be some rather dated and potentially upsetting ethnically-targeted social attitudes contained within this which the more sensitive Gentle Reader who is not inclined to put up with such in their leisure reading meant for enjoyment may prefer to avoid, according to one of the customer reviews. Reader discretion is advised.
Currently free @
Amazon (available to Canadians & in the
UK) &
iTunes (available to Canadians and many other places worldwide, as Diversion freebies often are).
Description
The police call on David Hook at his farm in Illinois, telling him his son Chris has committed suicide. David doesn't believe them, he can't. He knows something else must have happened in California to cause Chris's death. Diving into the life of his son, David discovers corruption, immorality, and evil that shocks him to his very core, but it also awakens something lurking within, something he enjoys, something that poses an even bigger threat to those who hurt his son.