The Gulf
A Novel
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4.3 • 3 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
“Exquisite and gripping. . . . The Gulf is a page turner to be savored; Cochran is a master of both prose and plot.”—Ilana Masad, author of All My Mother’s Lovers
In this electrifying debut literary thriller, set on the gulf coast of Texas in the 1970s at the height of the women’s liberation movement, a closeted young woman attempts to solve her surrogate mother’s murder in a tight-knit, religious small town.
In Parson, Texas, a small town ravaged by a devastating hurricane and the Vietnam War, twenty-nine-year-old Lou is diligently renovating a decaying old mansion for Miss Kate, the elderly neighbor who has always been like a mother to her. Mourning her brother’s death in Vietnam, Lou dreams of enjoying a more peaceful future in Parson. But those hopes are crushed when Miss Kate is murdered, and no one but Lou seems to care about finding the killer.
The situation becomes complicated when Joanna, Miss Kate’s long-estranged daughter and Lou’s first love, arrives in Parson—not to learn more about her mother’s death but for the house. Her arrival unearths sinister secrets involving the history of the town and its residents . . . revelations that may be the key to helping Lou discover the truth about Miss Kate’s death and her killer.
A gorgeously written, gripping story of forbidden love and devastating secrets that is a surprising twist on the traditional small-town story, The Gulf is a riveting and unsettling mystery that holds up a mirror to the values—and failures—of America.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Cochran's triumphant debut, closeted 29-year-old bartender Louisa Ward gets tangled up in a murder investigation in 1970s Texas. After a devastating hurricane, Louisa considers leaving her tiny, religious hometown of Parson, Tex.—a move encouraged by her lover, Heather, who also lives in Parson. Before Louisa can make a final decision, however, her old schoolmate (and first love), Joanna Kerrigan, returns to Parson and dredges up a mystery from the recent past. Joanna hires Louisa to help repair the decrepit mansion owned by her recently deceased mother, Kate, with whom Louisa had formed a close bond in the years since the girls graduated from high school. Eight months earlier, Louisa found Kate's body in the mansion's garden, her head bashed in from what the police deemed an accidental fall during a rainstorm. Louisa doubted that conclusion at the time, and now decides to throw herself into investigating Kate's death wholesale. Slowly, a thicket of small-town secrets come to light and make it crystal clear that the woman's demise was no accident. Cochran perfectly paces her reveals, keeping readers guessing about who's hiding secrets and why. Bolstered by true-to-life characterizations and superior prose, this character-driven Southern gothic will enthrall fans of Lou Berney's The Long and Faraway Gone.
