The Bayou Trilogy

Under the Bright Lights, Muscle for the Wing, and The Ones You Do

By: Daniel Woodrell

Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot

A hard-hitting, critically acclaimed trilogy of crime novels from an author about whom New York magazine has written, "What people say about Cormac McCarthy...goes double for [Woodrell]. Possibly more."

In the parish of St. Bruno, sex is easy, corruption festers, and double-dealing is a way of life. Rene Shade is an uncompromising detective swimming in a sea of filth.

As Shade takes on hit men, porn kings, a gang of ex-cons, and the ghosts of his own checkered past, Woodrell's three seminal novels pit long-entrenched criminals against the hard line of the law, brother against brother, and two vastly different sons against a long-absent father.

The Bayou Trilogy highlights the origins of a one-of-a-kind author, a writer who for over two decades has created an indelible representation of the shadows of the rural American experience and has steadily built a devoted following among crime fiction aficionados and esteemed literary critics alike.

©2011 Daniel Woodrell (P)Mulholland Books

Critic reviews

"Woodrell writes drolly and pungently of rednecks and swamp rats with the affection and exasperation of a man who has spent his life among them.... The Bayou Trilogy stands with the best crime fiction of its period." (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

"Old fans and new readers alike out to be grateful.... The novels showcase Woodrell's evolution as a writer.... Woodrell's The Bayou Trilogy supplies all the pleasure of hard-boiled noir: laconic cynicism, casually colorful characters (a diner owner, for instance, is described as having 'slightly more than a basic issue of a nose') and a hero whose feet of clay make his dedication to law and order all the more admirable." (Chicago Tribune)

"A backcountry Shakespeare.... The inhabitants of Daniel Woodrell's fiction often have a streak that's not just mean but savage; yet physical violence does not dominate his books. What does dominate is a seasoned fatalism.... Woodrell has tapped into a novelist's honesty, and lucky for us, he's remorseless that way." (Los Angeles Times)

Never a dull moment

Bronson Pinchot read this so well. The "Foghorn Leghorn" accents were so good! The writing, the stories....amazing. It was absolutely fascinating for this law-abiding citizen to listen to stories about how the other, criminal, half lives. Relentless revenge. No honor among thieves.

loved it!!

great plot and character development. unbelievable sentences!! it is a bit gruesome because it's all about terrible people doing bad things. highly recommended

The Worst Vipers in These Swamps Aren’t The Snakes

Let me try my hand at clairvoyance. If you read this book, and even better if you listen to Pinchot’s perfectly pitched performance, I predict you will be sorry, perhaps even depressed, when it ends. Daniel Woodrell is a master, and these three related novellas are his priceless pieces. The stories are violent, graphic, touching, full of flawed but compelling characters. Visit corrupt, racist, deadly, gritty St Bruno tucked along a South Louisiana bayou and swamp. You will sink deep into the mud and muck, poisonous snakes below and beautiful moss hanging over the exposed, twisted cypress knees. The most dangerous denizens are not the alligators and water moccasins, but the humans who love, hate, gamble, murder, defend and prey upon one another. You will savor the gumbo Woodrell has cooked up, and be left wishing for just one more helping.

Over acted

Prose is overly descriptive and lots of unnecessary background details. Stories are flat with no twist. Reader over does the accents .