“The Kid had taken a bus north from Seattle and stood outside studying the bar for a long time, weighing the options.”
The significance of this opening sentence is underpinned by the three final ominous words; by virtue of the irreversible choices that the characters are repeatedly thwarted by. Divided into five distinctive sections, rather than chapters, this novel has both the structural framework of literary fiction, and the prose to match.
Part one, Air, focuses on an outstanding thirty page narcotics drop deep in northern Seattle, on the border with British Columbia. The Kid, fresh out of Monroe prison has hooked up with Phil Hunt, a local rancher, and veteran of the trail, who is apprehensive, and suspicious about why such an inexperienced contractor has been assigned to him by his boss Eddie. Unbeknown to them, Deputy Bobby Drake, is patrolling the wilderness in a one man attempt to guard the borders. He is still haunted by his own Father, who had also been a Deputy, before sucumbing to the allure of drug running, resulting in a long stretch in prison. With such large quantities being exchanged all along the border, Drake is constantly faced with the dilemma of being corrupted by the same temptations which had enticed his Father, or restoring credibility for the family name.
“He knew he had to earn the name back, earn it back for himself and for his father.”
Part two, By Sea, is notable for two things. The first of these is the exhilarating drug exchange attempted by Hunt using Eddie’s Bayliner in which he discovers the innovative means now being used to ensure the heroin arrives undetected. Advised against partaking by his wife Nora, Hunt understands this is his last chance to settle scores and his unyielding desire to be a good person in a bad situation, creates compelling empathy. The entire sequence is written with an innate ability to drag the reader into the atmospheric setting to such an extent that one feels frightened for the characters in a section which aptly encapsulates the terror of living.
The second momentous factor is the introduction of Grady Fisher, a psychotic hired killer who at all times carries a case of knives: one for every occasion. His bloodlust and meticulous fascination with the insides of his victims, whether they be animal or human, makes for an enduring character of twenty-first century fiction. He is so well written, his mannerisms so attuned in poetic prose that he will consume a reader’s nightmares and make them jump any time they hear knives being sharpened.
“He believed truly and gave himself completely to the expression ‘The eyes are the windows of the soul.’”
Part three, By Land, and part four, Confessions, form a one hundred and fifty page chase sequence as Hunt is pursued by not only Deputy Drake, and the head of the DEA Agent Driscoll, but also Grady Fisher, a man nobody wants on their trail. These sections will invariably remind readers of No Country For Old Men. However, this is not a Cormac McCarthy novel, nor is it a Cohen brothers film. This is an author with his own unique voice. One who writes with such assurance that it is incomprehensible that this is a debut novel. It takes time for a writer to become this good. Maybe three or four novels into their canon of work, they will publish something of this stature. But to produce it straight out of the shoot as a debut, is extraordinary. Consequently one simply cannot disagree with the comments of Stephen King:
“A hell of a good novel, relentlessly paced and beautifully narrated. There’s just no let-up. An auspicious debut.”
The climatic part five, Snow, is where the authoritative voice of this author differentiates from the influences mentioned above. For the sole reason, that the reader is rewarded with a brilliant ending packed with wonderful cinematic scenes and intimate moments of poignancy, which are distinctive to the author’s own voice.
In a recent Interview the author revealed that the writing of this debut took exactly one year from the first word, to the final draft published. Many of his contemporaries endeavour for years to write such an accomplished work, and those that do, struggle to do it within a calendar year.
This, combined with the stunning prose and consummate skill to engage the reader on every single page of The Terror of Living, makes Urban Waite one of the finest literary discoveries of recent years.