Fall Back Down When I Die

By: Joe Wilkins

Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews

For fans of My Absolute Darling and Fourth of July Creek, a "riveting and timely" (Jess Walter) Montana story about the unbreakable bond between a young man and the abandoned boy put in his care, as old grievances of land and blood are visited upon them.

Wendell Newman, a young ranch hand in Montana, has recently lost his mother, leaving him an orphan. His bank account holds less than $100, and he owes back taxes on what remains of the land his parents owned, as well as money for the surgeries that failed to save his mother's life.

An unexpected deliverance arrives in the form of seven-year-old Rowdy Burns, the mute and traumatized son of Wendell's incarcerated cousin. When Rowdy is put under his care, what begins as an ordeal for Wendell turns into a powerful bond as he comes to love the boy more than he ever thought possible. That bond will be stretched to the breaking point during the first legal wolf hunt in Montana in more than 30 years, when a murder ignites a desperate chase. Caught on the wrong side of a disaffected fringe group, Wendell is determined both to protect Rowdy and to avoid the same violent fate that claimed his own father.

A gripping story set in a fractured and misunderstood community, Fall Back Down When I Die is a haunting and unforgettable tale of sacrificial love.

©2019 Joe Wilkins (P)2019 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"Wilkins delivers a Shakespearean mix of drama and mortal danger in crisp and beautiful language...He renders the effects of violence and trauma on the daily machinations of human lives...The world of the novel, rural Montana, is presented with the native realism of someone familiar with the people, language, landscape, and controversies of the 'way out here'...He captures the social dynamic of communities of few people spread over many swaths of land...This novel instills hope. Wilkins has produced a remarkable book filled with characters who, despite their inherent differences over how to exist on the land, remind us of the myriad reasons that every person might be loved."—Jason Hess, The Oregonian

"A tense story delivered in sharp, evocative sentences, Fall Back Down When I Die captures what feel like eternal tensions of land, loyalty, and vengeance. . .Wilkins is also a talented poet, and his sense of sound and line seeps into his prose. . .He has a fine sense of pacing, imbuing the book's final quarter with an almost dizzying suspense. He's at his most poetic when setting the scene with descriptions that create a palpable atmosphere. . .These are melodies of pain and penance—the right song for a novel about a riven land."—Nick Ripatrazone, National Review

"In his first novel, shorty story writer, poet, and memoirist Wilkins writes of hardscrabble life on the northern Great Plains with mesmerizing power, creating characters with rich if troubled interior lives who are desperate for agency and haunted by absent fathers. Wendell and Rowdy's slowly blossoming relationship is as lovely and breathtaking as the book's tragic ending is inevitable and devastating. Suffused with a sense of longing, loss, and the desire for change—asking deep questions about our place in the landscape and what, if anything, we are owed—this is a remarkable and unforgettable first novel."—Booklist (starred review)

thumbs up

there are some obvious similarities between this book and fourth of july creek. if that sort of thing bugs you, relax. this is a compelling piece of fiction. it’s its own thing and it has a lot to say. it’d be a great use of a credit for fans of suspense novels, westerns, or literary fiction (not to mention the socio-anthropology crowd).

Beautifully written

Evocative of so many different feelings and thoughts. It feels like truth... It is heartbreaking with truth.

Worth reading

Loved the richness and relatability of the characters and their beautifully told stories in the mountains of Montana.

Impossible to stop listening!

So good! Beautiful writing and pitch perfect narration. This is one of the best things I've listened to on audible.

Wonderful portrayal of land and life I do not understand

The author gives us a vivid insight into two realities in this Montana world with a bond of a boy and a young man holding the center

Beautiful descriptions

The imagery in this book is stunning, you so easily fall into feeling like you are in the mountains seating flies even if you’ve never been in a wood. The story is so realistic and heartbreaking, a good read.

Way Too Much Liberal Whining for Me

No more of this book. Sorry I wasted a credit. Author: Global warming IS a liberal tax scam. Just write an honest book that doesn’t pander.