The Other Side of Silence by Bill Pronzini

First published in 2008; published in digital edition by Open Road Media on May 19, 2015

Too many noir writers adopt a style that reads like a parody of noir. Bill Pronzini's style is understated but definitely noir. I always enjoy his books because the plots are believable, the story moves quickly, and the characters have a reasonable amount of depth.

After Rick Fallon's son dies, so does his marriage. He leaves the urban stress of Encino for the emptiness of Death Valley. While hiking, he comes across a woman in distress. Fallon helps her because it feels like the right thing to do.

The woman's son has been taken. Fallon's efforts to find him take him on a tour of the Southwest, from Death Valley to Vegas to San Diego and places like Laughlin and Indio. Pronzini always creates a sense of place without bogging the story down in unnecessary detail. Fallon comes across a mix of believable characters during his travels, most of whom are a mixture of good and bad, as people tend to be.

This isn't so much a "whodunit" as it is a "who did what?" story. The Other Side of Silence is a quiet little novel. I wouldn't call it a thriller or even a suspense novel. The Other Side of Silence is a throwback to the days when crime fiction focused on characters and motivations rather than loving descriptions of weapons, martial arts moves, and ridiculous plots that are meant to be heart-stopping.

To the extent that this is a novel about a man who saves himself by saving others, it might be a little hokey, but by telling a believable story, Pronzini convinced me that the novel is more uplifting than hokey.

RECOMMENDED