Wednesday, December 27, 2006

bill cameron, i'm your biggest fan




i'm a fan of Bill Cameron's and I've been anticipating his debut novel LOST DOG for several months. now i can say I've read an ARC and loved it. below is my honest opinion of the book.


LOST DOG by Bill Cameron is a beautifully written and masterful work of character-driven crime fiction. One of the most fascinating and compelling main characters I've read in a long time. A bad guy real enough to smell. A plot that fits together like a puzzle.

I was starving for a personal story. Give me real people. Give me a story with truth. As soon as I started LOST DOG my heart began to beat faster. This was the book I'd been craving.

Bill Cameron manages to deftly strip away the distance. Not only does he give us a knock-out plot, he gives us real people in real settings. He gives us characters we care about, characters we know and want to know. And like real life, the darkest moments often contain humor. I laughed out loud several times.

LOST DOG is a heart-stopping, tightly-woven debut by a remarkable new crime-fiction writer.

Thank you, Bill Cameron.

Anne Frasier


more about LOST DOG:

Peter McKrall is at a crossroads -- out of work, fighting a klepto habit, and trying to figure out his next move. Life takes an unexpected turn when a search for his niece's stuffed dog leads him to something else entirely: a bullet-riddled corpse. Talking to reporters lands Peter on the local news, which turns out to be a dangerous spotlight. And now Darla, the troubled daughter of the victim, is reaching out to him -- but can she be trusted? When a second murder takes place and evidence is planted in his trash, the cops dredge up Peter's painful history. The only ray of sunshine in this harrowing nightmare is Ruby Jane, whose warm smile melts the winter chill.

An unwitting player in a bizarre chain of events, Peter has no idea that the deranged killer is after him - until he takes a shot at Ruby Jane.

- + - + -

Set against the sodden backdrop of Portland, Oregon, lost dog tells of the intersection of one man's struggle against and another's embrace of powerful and self-destructive impulses


coming April 2007 from Midnight Ink

about Bill


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16 comments:

Heather Harper said...

Sounds good and gritty.

Dee said...

You mean I have to wait all the way until April to read this book?!? I want it now!!

Patrick Shawn Bagley said...

Bill Cameron writes excellent short fiction, and he posts thoughtful comments on other peoples' blogs. If LOST DOG is even half as good as the stuff I've read so far, I'm gonna have him whacked.

Jeff said...

This looks good. I'll be sure to pick up a copy of Lost Dog when it comes out. Thanks for the recommendation.

Anonymous said...

Note to self: Pre-orders, got to put in the pre-orders.

Bill Cameron said...

Anne, you know I got kinda weepy when you sent me this via email, and here I am all weepy again. Praise like this coming from you is especially sweet because what you do with character and plot is what I aspire to do. Now I'm going to go float away again, and hope I can avoid those guys Patrick sent over...

:D

Kelly (Lynn) Parra said...

Wow, sounds like a winner! =D

anne frasier said...

heather, oh yeah. it's both those things!

dee, i know! april is a long wait.

patrick: kill the competition. i like it! and i can see i'm approaching this all wrong. note to self: get bill's address....

jeff, jason, and kelly: you'll like it -- or i'll give you your money back.

bill: keep an eye open for flannel coats and earflaps.

does that only make sense to me?

Bill Cameron said...

Hey, I been to Minnesota, don'tcha know?

anne frasier said...

uff da!

Julia Buckley said...

Anne, I've read Lost Dog, too, and I agree. Bill has created something beyond just a mystery here--it's much more about unpredictable humanity.

I hope soon to own my own copy. Although an arc sounds nice, Bill.

Dee said...

re: your comment to Patrick...that loaded gun you have sitting there in the corner, Anne...see, it doesn't have to be just for stalkers...it can be for multi-tasking too.
Note: Extra Bullets, add to shopping list.

anne frasier said...

julia, last i heard poor bill hadn't seen an ARC yet. hehe!

dee: good idea.

hey. wait a dang minute. you can see the loaded gun in the corner of the room?

Bill Cameron said...

Aye, no ARCs for me yet!

angie said...

So cruel to taunt us with a book we can't read yet...

anne frasier said...

heh! rubs hands together.