Go with Me - by Castle Freeman (Paperback)

About the Book

From the Back Cover

A young woman recently relocated to a tiny Vermont logging town, Lillian is menaced by a mysterious stalker named Blackway. This one man--who kills her cat, forces her boyfriend to flee the state in terror, and silently threatens her very existence--is a force little understood by the local figures to whom she turns for help. Yet, in this spare and powerful tale, Lillian enlists the powerful brute Nate and the curmudgeonly Lester to take the fight to her tormenter as a raggedy quartet of town elders ponders her likely fate. With simple strength and extraordinary force, Go with Me is a riveting modern fable of good provoked to resist evil.

Review Quotes

"...the best mystery you missed in 2008...Tense and funny, "Go With Me" glides on pitch-perfect dialogue and a humdinger finale. - Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Castle...knows the territory well here, whether of the woods or the human heart. Go With Me is a fine testament to his considerable talents." - Hartford Courant

"[An] elegant little thriller about cunning versus cruelty . . . [a] pure delight, thanks to Freeman's streamlined storytelling, dead-on dialogue, and lyrical descriptions of the bleak, woodsy landscape." - O magazine

"This unusual little gem of a book is part comic romp and part nail-biting thriller...Castle Freeman writes with both wit and a deep understanding of the human psyche, and he does not cheat us out of a dramatic climax." - The Guardian

"Reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy...Go With Me is at once wry, primal, epic and impossible to put down. I'm telling you the same thing I told the writer Richard Price: You must read this." - Charles Bock, bestselling author of BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN, on NPR's "You Must Read This"

"In this compact little gem of a novel two unlikely heroes help a stubborn woman track down a villainous bully. It's a tale of love and justice and it's beautifully constructed, with lightness and with expertise, out of north country conversations so quietly funny that every page brings a smile." - Reeve Lindbergh, author of Forward From Here: Leaving Middle Age--and Other Unexpected Adventures

"There is a clear moral arc to this storyline, and suspense too. But GO WITH ME is also a literary novel, with echoes of "Deliverance" and Cormac McCarthy...Mr. Freeman adroitly captures the feel of played-out Vermont towns and people, and his dialogue has a terse, almost humorous, cadence." - Wall Street Journal

"A fast, memorable read gooey with atmosphere, Go With Me is a gem that sparkles with sly insight and cuts like a knife." - Boston Globe

"Castle Freeman Jr. packs more story into 160 pages than more famous authors could fit into twice as many...Go With Me is a dialogue-driven, take-the-law-into-your-own-hands story that is slick with humor and musings on pop culture, aging and American women." - USA Today

"GO WITH ME ambles along with that ... mixture of corny irony and shrewd wisdom... These guys have a sweetness and slyness about them that's affecting. 'They don't change, ' Freeman writes. 'Time doesn't pass for them.' You could say the same for good storytelling like this." - Washington Post

"This gem of a novel by Vermont author Freeman may bring him the larger audience he so richly deserves...Freeman turns this fablelike story into a surprisingly suspenseful showdown. And the artful cutaways to the old-timers' priceless, extremely funny conversations add another level of richness to the tale." - Booklist

"One of the smartest novels we've read in a long time." - Time Out Chicago

"Freeman's ear is flawless. The dialogue is taut, funny, wise, poignant, deceptively simple and only on occasion profane. . . . The description is astute and often beautiful." - The Times-Argus (VT) The Times-Argus (VT) The Times-Argus (Vermont)

"[An] elegant little thriller about cunning versus cruelty . . . [a] pure delight, thanks to Freeman's streamlined storytelling, dead-on dialogue, and lyrical descriptions of the bleak, woodsy landscape. This is a meticulous New England miniature, with not a wasted word." - O magazine

"This nimble thriller is the literary equivalent of a fierce bantamweight fighter: Short but muscular and lightning quick, it packs a surprising punch . . . Freeman has a flawless ear for dialogue and a sharp eye for quirky detail . . . Superb." - People (Critic's Choice)

"What a spiffy little yarn, loose and funny and, at a few key junctures, righteously bloody...The book takes just a few hours to read--about the running time of the swell indie movie someone should make from this offbeat charmer." - Entertainment Weekly

"Like its young heroine, Lillian, Freeman's trim powerhouse is 'a pistol.' ...Freeman's beautifully cadenced dialogue is rich with humor, philosophic depth and a near-mythic sensibility." - Publishers Weekly