Review of Christopher J. Dwyer’s When October Falls

I just finished reading Christopher J. Dwyer’s When October Falls. I’m saddened. Here’s hoping for a follow-up, When November Rises.

Full disclosure: I’ve known Chris for a while. I’d call him a friend. Fuller disclosure: Fuck friendship. Praising a good book is more important than tiptoeing around a friend’s emotions. So, for the sake of this quick bit of praise, let’s pretend that I have never met Chris. Let’s pretend I haven’t had a few rounds with him in Chicago, in Denver, and I think in New York (I don’t know if he was in New York the last time I was there; shows you how much drinking I did).

When October Falls is the perfect bridge to ease the pain until the next Will Christopher Baer book finally comes (where are you Godspeed?). Dwyer’s novel is equally poetic, equally heartbreaking, and equally engrossing as anything that bears Baer’s name (sorry, I had to do that). When October Falls is unapologetically noir, complete with the tropes fans have come to expect and love: eternally damned protagonist? Check. Time lines interrupted by repeated bouts of consciousness –turned-unconsciousness and back again, usually by way of a gun-stock slap or chloroform? Check. Deathbed exposition? Check.

Indulge a bit. Buy the book. Swim in its velvet prose. Feel dirty for a while. And perhaps even cry a tear or two.

Visit:
Christopher J. Dwyer (the author)
Brown Paper Publishing (the publisher)

Caleb J. Ross

Caleb J. Ross has been published widely, both online and in print. He graduated with a degree in English Lit and a minor in creative writing from Emporia State University in 2005. He is the author of Charactered Pieces: stories (OW Press), Stranger Will: a novel (Otherworld Publications, 2011), As a Machine and Parts (Aqueous Books, 2011) and, I Didn’t Mean to Be Kevin: a novel (Black Coffee Press, 2011).

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