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“QUITE POSSIBLY THE MOST MUST-READ NOVEL OF 2023; IT’S JUST THAT GOOD… [A] RICHLY EMBROIDERED TAPESTRY OF LONGING, DEFEAT, LONELY LOVE AND MURDER.”  — The Durango Telegraph

“Johnston writes with such care, understanding, even love for the flawed humans in his story that it’s almost too much . . . but if we persist, we will bear witness to their moments of pain and tragedy.  The reward: we are treated to occasions of such care that it’s almost redemptive.”  — Kirkus Reviews, Starred [PDF]

“The secrets run deep in the eloquent crime novel… a moving tale of friendship, attraction and long-term loss, told with quiet grace and emotional precision.” — The Washington Post

“Johnston’s writing carries a hint of the classic Southern Gothic, parallel to the crime fiction of Randall Silvis. The sweet pain also recalls the Boston families that haunt Dennis Lehane’s novels, as well as the West Virginians in Julia Keller’s… easily twice as good as a simple crime novel, and well worth the time spent reading all the interludes and sorting out the clues.” — New York Journal of Books

 “Tim Johnston returns in dazzling form with DISTANT SONS, an intricate, haunting novel sure to resonate with fans of Dennis Lehane, Peter Heller, and James Lee Burke. Johnston’s plot is tense and his pacing swift, but he’s after bigger game here, with questions of identity, intentions, and legacies merging in a tale that will linger long after it is finished. He’s also one of the finest prose stylists in the game, stacking polished sentences with a master’s touch. Don’t miss this one.”  — Michael Koryta, New York Times bestselling author of An Honest Man

“An exceptional whodunit… Johnston is a talented and intelligent writer who avoids clichés and dead spots in his prose; a perceptive and witty creator of dialogue with the confidence to conceive the requisite (for this genre) anfractuosities and unlooked-for conclusions… This Tim Johnston fellow, he’s the good stuff.” — Washington Independent Review of Books

“This book kept me up at night. Eerie, unsettling, and addictive.” — Ash Davidson, bestselling author of Damnation Spring

“Distant Sons is the kind of novel that inspires writers like me to want to step up our game. His prose is both elegant and raw, with characters so real you want to sit down and have a beer with them. Mr. Johnston is a writer with a gift, and if you haven’t had the pleasure to read him, I highly recommend picking up this book.” — Allen Eskens, bestselling author of The Life We Bury and Forsaken Country