Cloudland

Marilyn Stasio

Although Olshan is merciful to all the cruel lovers, faithless spouses and angry children who live in this lonely place, the bracing clarity of his prose doesn't allow for false sentiment…When speaking of matters like romantic obsession and violence in close relationships, a voice like that really cuts through the air of a cold climate.
—The New York Times Book Review

Publishers Weekly

Olshan (The Conversion), known for his literary fiction, delivers a crime novel more likely to satisfy mainstream than genre readers. Catherine Winslow, a former investigative journalist and college professor, gets drawn into the hunt for a serial killer after finding the frozen body of a missing nurse in an orchard near her rural Vermont home. Conveniently, her neighbor on isolated Cloudland Road, Anthony Waite, is a forensic psychiatrist. Waite assists Det. Marco Prozzo in the police investigation, though it’s never clear why they hold so much stock in Catherine’s opinions. Catherine tries to draw literary connections between the murders and the plot of an unfinished Wilkie Collins novel, all while worrying about the reappearance of her former lover, Matthew Blake. Seventh Day Adventist literature found near several of the corpses suggests a religious motive. Though the crimes are based on real events, the lack of suspense and an unsympathetic heroine (Catherine once had a romance with a student that ended in violence) make for a less than satisfying mystery. Author tour. Agent: Mitchell Waters, Curtis Brown. (Apr.)

From the Publisher

“Joseph Olshan has stepped up and hit one for the home team.  The bracing clarity of his prose…observes the destructive impact [the] killings have on this isolated region.” –Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review

“Evocative… the intricate whodunnit has faint echoes of [Wilkie] Collins with Catherine in the role of his ‘Woman In White,’ wandering desolate hills, but not trying nearly hard enough to escape her past.” –The Boston Globe

“CLOUDLAND is a lyrical love poem to that region (Vermont, New Hampshire) – its landscape, its weather, its people – and also to the writings of Wilkie Collins, whose Victorian-era writings helped lay the groundwork for the mystery genre.” –The Charlotte Observer

“The effect of violence on small communities is one of the most provocative themes for mystery fiction. Joseph Olshan expands that plot…[He] makes a bold and quite effective foray into crime fiction.” –Oline Cogdill, The Florida Sun Sentinel  

“A fine writer” –The Washington Post

“Olshan, has a reputation for writing beautifully….Cloudland is a love letter to Vermont.” –The Washington Independent Book Review

“In this refreshingly cliché-free serial-killer tale, Olshan tries his hand with a female narrator/heroine, whom he handles just as deftly as his sensitive male heroes. Although all these chilly, hurting souls are well worth your time, the real keeper is Catherine. Even as you wonder who the killer will turn out to be, you’ll worry mainly about how she’s going to come through all this.” –Kirkus Reviews

“A crash course in Wilkie Collins, wrapped in a thrilling contemporary mystery” –Mystery Scene Magazine 

“Unlike the more common, adrenaline-fueled serial-killer thrillers, this is literary, character-driven fiction with remarkable empathy not only for those whom murder leaves behind but also for the perpetrator. Another fine performance from a critically acclaimed author.” –Booklist 

“Rarely do you find a story with characters so fully developed that you feel as if they might live next door. Conjuring a distinctly 19th-century atmosphere, Olshan excels at crafting a Dickensian literary piece.” –Library Journal 

“Olshan’s writing is frequently stunning, particularly when he’s describing the landscape of the book’s Vermont setting, and he’s crafted…a handful of interesting small town types…” –The A.V Club (The Onion) 

“Cloudland (Minotaur) is one of those books that grabs you by the neck and pulls you in, unrelenting and completely taking you..” –CrimeSpree Magazine

“CLOUDLAND, by Joseph Olshan, is obviously a crime novel and a great one at that….The book is not just about mystery – it is also about fascinating characters.” –The Hungry Reader

“This is a gripping crime novel, with a perfect ending, a surprise that doesn't come out of the blue, but fits the story. The isolated setting, and the story of the murdered women are vividly created in this book. Readers who are fans of S.J. Bolton's atmospheric thrillers should try Olshan's Cloudland. Cloudland isn't Olshan's first book. However, it's his first crime novel, and it's pitch perfect.”  –Lesa’s Critiques

Library Journal

Out walking one late March afternoon, Catherine Winslow spies a body propped against a tree, and she knows it's a local woman who went missing that winter. Unfortunately, this case isn't an anomaly; a spate of killings is plaguing the Upper Valley of Vermont and New Hampshire. A former high-profile investigative reporter, 41-year-old Catherine has retreated to a remote farmhouse, where she writes a syndicated column. Additionally, she teaches writing at the local prison. Detective Prozzo hires Catherine's neighbor friend Anthony to help with the profiling, since he has a background in forensic psychiatry. Anthony hashes over details of the crimes with Catherine. While the townspeople like to think an outsider is targeting their area, the authorities are thinking local. When a prime suspect turns out to be Catherine's ex-lover, the psychological tension ratchets up. VERDICT Rarely do you find a story with characters so fully developed that you feel as if they might live next door. Conjuring a distinctly 19th-century atmosphere, Olshan (The Conversion; Nightswimmer) excels at crafting a Dickensian literary piece, but the amount of detail may put off some readers expecting more action. Wilkie Collins fans, on the other hand, will be delighted by the role of the author of The Moonstone in this plot. [See Prepub Alert, 10/31/11.]

Kirkus Reviews

In this refreshingly cliché-free serial-killer tale, Olshan tries his hand with a female narrator/heroine, whom he handles just as deftly as his sensitive male heroes (The Conversion, 2008, etc.). Two-and-a-half years and five corpses after Tammy Boucher was stabbed to death in New England's River Valley, police in Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts still don't have any idea who's killing these women or why. The forensic evidence is hopeless, and the discovery of Seventh-Day Adventist tracts on some of the victims hardly seems to rise to the level of a clue. After she discovers the sixth victim, long-missing nurse Angela Parker, buried in the thawing snow, Catherine Winslow, a former investigative reporter who's retreated to Vermont to write a syndicated column of household hints, finds herself drawn into the case and is soon resisting the suggestions of Springfield-based Det. Marco Prozzo, who's evidently intent on pinning the crimes on knacker Hiram Osmond or painter Paul Winter's adopted son Wade. Prozzo doesn't seem to notice several more inviting suspects, from Dr. Anthony Waite, the troubled psychiatrist who's helping with the investigation, to Matthew Blake, the former college student who'd been Catherine's lover and is now conveniently returned from Thailand, where he said he'd gone to forget her. Although all these chilly, hurting souls are well worth your time, the real keeper is Catherine, still grieving the death of the husband she'd divorced and the loss of the younger lover she'd pushed away. Even as you wonder who the killer will turn out to be, you'll worry mainly about how she's going to come through all this.