The prologue of this book has some truly excellent, fast-paced writing that has a real southern gothic feel, a real sense of darkness beneath the surface that emerges in unforgettable violent spurts.
After that, it dies down a little.
The book continues down a violent path, and although I’m not shy when it comes to violence, there is a point where I start to think “Okay, I get it” and want a little more from the story. It's a little less Denis Johnson, a little more Dennis Cooper, if I had to make a Dennis-centric comparison.
Donald Ray Pollock wrote the incredible short story book Knockemstiff a couple years ago, and this is his first novel. The two books cover some of the same territory, literally and figuratively, and although they both do a good job the second book is diminished a little for me because I already read and thoroughly enjoyed the first book.
The Devil All the Time (which, by the way, wins the Peter Derk award for Best Title 2011) feels to me like three novellas mashed together, and the way everything comes together is a little…Crash-y for me. Not the JG Ballard book Crash, the movie where everything twists up at the end in a way that apparently seemed awesome in 2006, but does not benefit from a rewatch.
The style of the book is excellent, and Pollock’s writing has real force, real power to it. The book recaptured my attention again and again with its language, but it lost me a little in its meanderings. I know there is less money in short stories, that the novel is where it’s at, but I personally prefer Knockemstiff, and if I were recommending one that’s the one I would point to.
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