A Small Disturbance on the Far Horizon - by Richard Babcock (Paperback)

About the Book

"In the stark Nevada landscape of the 1950s, A Small Disturbance on the Far Horizon explores the aftermath of a murder through the intertwined lives of three individuals. Tom Lang, a deputy sheriff, finds solace in a secret affair with Ettie Calvert, the wife of his overbearing partner, Ronnie. Their lives unravel when Adam Ott, a troubled teenager, impulsively murders Ronnie, setting off a harrowing chain of events that culminates in a deadly pursuit through the rugged mountains. Against the backdrop of the country's nuclear bomb tests, which ominously shadow the narrative, Tom, Ettie, and Adam each wrestle with their choices and seek redemption from the haunting consequences that relentlessly pursue them"--

Book Synopsis

In the stark Nevada landscape of the 1950s, A Small Disturbance on the Far Horizon explores the aftermath of a murder through the intertwined lives of three individuals. Tom Lang, a deputy sheriff, finds solace in a secret affair with Ettie Calvert, the wife of his overbearing partner, Ronnie. Their lives unravel when Adam Ott, a troubled teenager, impulsively murders Ronnie, setting off a harrowing chain of events that culminates in a deadly pursuit through the rugged mountains. Against the backdrop of the country's nuclear bomb tests, which ominously shadow the narrative, Tom, Ettie, and Adam each wrestle with their choices and seek redemption from the haunting consequences that relentlessly pursue them.

Review Quotes

Set over the course of several days in a small, remote Nevada town in October 1954, A Small Disturbance on the Far Horizon is a gripping thriller that brings to mind Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven and Charles Portis' True Grit.
--Christine Sneed in New City

This is a page-turner for the thoughtful reader: sensitive, suspenseful and deeply forgiving of its all-too-human characters. Babcock shoots for the heart and his aim is true.
--Peter Blauner, NY Times bestselling author of Picture in the Sand

A Small Disturbance on the Far Horizon is so well written, so well crafted, and so deeply moving that it climbs beyond most novels of its genre and into the realm of true art. Dick Babcock is one of the best in the business.
--Jonathan Eig, Pulitzer Prize winning author of King: A Life

A Small Disturbance on the Far Horizon is not just a great adventure story, it's about people caught in the web of their own morality, a cop having an affair with his partner's wife, a devoted mother possessed by a dangerous passion, and a group of Native Americans trying to come to terms with the modern world, but still carrying within them the legacy of history.
--Dinitia Smith, author of The Prince

Buckle up. The darkest cloud that hangs over Richard Babcock's 1954-set thriller is not the aftermath of nuclear testing in the Nevada desert, but the collision of wounded characters --young and old, Indian and white--set in motion by the shocking murder of a local cop during a routine traffic stop.
--Denis O'Neill, author The River Wild

The starkly genuine western landscape of A Small Disturbance on the Far Horizon is likely to make you think of Cormac McCarthy, but the moral universe of this novel is unique and true unto itself. And, as in all of Babcock's work, the pages are suffused with a knowing tenderness.
--Michael Daly, author of New York's Finest

Babcock expertly describes rural small-town life in the 1950s: the claustrophobic puritanism and the values that are foisted upon the residents.
--Booklist

About the Author

A native of the Midwest, Richard Babcock trained as a lawyer, but has spent a career as a writer and editor moving between fiction and nonfiction. He was a top editor at New York magazine, then longtime editor in chief at Chicago. He has taught writing at Northwestern University, among other schools. Babcock has published three novels, including Are You Happy Now?, a finalist in adult fiction from the Society of Midland Authors.