What do you think?
Rate this book
A Killer from the Hills Novel #1
Ridgerunner
“Jim Burke says he works the pages till, when you pick them up, they crackle in your hand. That's Rusty Barnes' Ridgerunner. From the first line it crackles: it's alive, moving about, and won't be still.”
James Sallis, author of Drive
For fans of Larry Brown, Daniel Woodrell, Scott Smith, Donald Ray Pollock and Scott Phillips, this rural noir set in northern Pennsylvania features a world in which the natural gas industry has raped the land and made billionaires out of farmers and small time criminals alike.
Investigating a deer-poaching incident that lands him in deep trouble—with a broken ankle and multiple bullet wounds—wildlife conservation officer Matt Rider finds himself at odds with members of the renegade Pittman family, including clan leader Soldier Pittman.
When a large sum of Pittman’s drug money comes up missing, Soldier Pittman is convinced Rider stole it. Rider’s instincts are to call on his trusted brother Randy and his friend Dean Blackwell to help him out, but none of them imagine the lengths to which Soldier Pittman will go to get his drug money back.
James Sallis, author of Drive
For fans of Larry Brown, Daniel Woodrell, Scott Smith, Donald Ray Pollock and Scott Phillips, this rural noir set in northern Pennsylvania features a world in which the natural gas industry has raped the land and made billionaires out of farmers and small time criminals alike.
Investigating a deer-poaching incident that lands him in deep trouble—with a broken ankle and multiple bullet wounds—wildlife conservation officer Matt Rider finds himself at odds with members of the renegade Pittman family, including clan leader Soldier Pittman.
When a large sum of Pittman’s drug money comes up missing, Soldier Pittman is convinced Rider stole it. Rider’s instincts are to call on his trusted brother Randy and his friend Dean Blackwell to help him out, but none of them imagine the lengths to which Soldier Pittman will go to get his drug money back.
154 pages, Paperback
First published May 10, 2016
4 people are currently reading
111 people want to read
About the author
Rusty Barnes
47 books227 followersRusty Barnes is a 2018 Derringer finalist and author of the story collections Breaking it Down (Sunnyoutside Press 2007) , Mostly Redneck (Sunnyoutside Press 2011), and Kraj The Enforcer: Stories (Shotgun Honey 2019), as well as four novels, Reckoning (Sunnyoutside Press, 2014), Ridgerunner (Shotgun Honey/Down & Out Books, 2017), Knuckledragger (Shotgun Honey/Down & Out Books 2017) and The Last Danger (Shotgun Honey/Down & Out Books 2018), His fiction, poetry and non-fiction have appeared or are forthcoming in many journals and anthologies, like Dirty Boulevard: Crime Stories Inspired by the Songs of Lou Reed (Down & Out Books 2018), Best Small Fictions 2015, Mystery Tribune, Goliad Review, Smokelong Quarterly, Red Rock Review, Porter Gulch Review and Post Road. His poetry collections include On Broad Sound (Nixes Mates Press, 2016) and Jesus in the Ghost Room, (Nixes Mates Press 2017). He founded and edits Tough, a journal of crime fiction and occasional reviews. Find him on Twitter @rustybarnes23
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
November 21, 2016
All things become clearer in sunlight.Ridgerunner is a piece of country grit from 280 Steps, in which a part-time wildlife conservation deputy in rural Pennsylvania gets embroiled in a bullet-ridden feud with the Pittmans, the local family of outlaws. Initially I was excited with the prospect of having our hero, Matt Rider, stumble through the book with gunshot wounds and a broken ankle in a cast. I thought this would add an extra layer to the action and the tension that I was pumped to read about. But this plot element either backfired or wasn't used to it's potential because Matt spent a lot of the novel just waiting around. That was my biggest problem with this one: there is almost no urgency. There are serious threats to Matt's family by villains who are largely unseen and can pop up at anytime, but yet Matt somehow finds time to go shopping and sit on the couch. He doesn't even really seem all that pressed about the situation he's in. There are many parts in this book where narrative urgency comes to a total halt and I felt no sense of real danger through most of it.
I wanted blood, and I wanted it now, without my uniform and all the bullshit that went with it.I also loved the idea of keeping the villains fairly mysterious in order to build their reputation along with the reader's anticipation. But then this build-up didn't pay-off at all and it turns out that the Pittmans are lightweights in a big way, with a climactic shoot-out that's instantly forgettable. I would normally call the end of this novel "anti-climactic," but then again, it's not really a letdown because nothing really happened in rest of the book either.
October 30, 2015
I'll have the great honor and pleasure of blurbing this fine novel, so more soon...
Rusty Barnes has done it again. Ridgerunner is a well-oiled, perfectly crafted shotgun of a novel, one that delivers just as much heart as it does gunpowder. No one else working today can showcase so much humanity in such dark places. It's a genuine thrill to see what Barnes can do with twenty-six letters and a handful of characters.
Rusty Barnes has done it again. Ridgerunner is a well-oiled, perfectly crafted shotgun of a novel, one that delivers just as much heart as it does gunpowder. No one else working today can showcase so much humanity in such dark places. It's a genuine thrill to see what Barnes can do with twenty-six letters and a handful of characters.
January 5, 2016
A guttural and unrelenting survey of a people and place that is not lawless, but, rather, governed solely by its own backcountry creed. RIDGERUNNER blurs the boundaries between lawmen and outlaws. Barnes has delivered the stuff of fine fiction.
November 14, 2016
Fast-paced, well-plotted, expert noir, indeed, where the "red-neck" Pennsy protagonist, Matt, a deputy game warden, gets caught up in a feud with backwoods, dope-dealing old boys, and is victimized with first blood, then repays in kind and then some. Faulkner's Pop-eye in Sanctuary would feel at home with Barnes's Pittman clan. But even granted genre and authentic grittiness, the brutality and violence risks feeling gratuitous, and I can't wholly sympathize with Matt despite his positive care for his wife, daughter, dog, and brother.
June 9, 2016
A great noir. Reminds me of an early Lawrence Block in a country setting.
July 22, 2016
I grew up in a small, rural area, but live in a city now. This book reminded me of my hometown. Barnes' writing is agile and authentic. It's a lightning fast read too. This book a definitely worth a read, and his career is one to follow.
April 15, 2024
Really enjoyed this story of vengeance, violence, and mayhem. I want to read the second book!
October 12, 2016
Rusty Barnes just flat out kicked my butt. I dove into Ridgerunner not knowing what to expect and I was ill prepared for what I found. What did I find you ask? I found a crime novel, wrapped in a multi-layered drama about the need for family, the lengths you go for family, and the depths of despair you can bring upon your loved ones through your choices. Barnes layered these elements in a manner that left me drained and longing for the next part in this trilogy.
Matt Rider works as a conservationist and is often at war with the local bad-ass family, the Pittmans. When Rider is attacked by one of the family members and barely survives, he sets off a chain reaction that has him popping pills to alleviate the injuries he receives, traipsing through the mountain with his brother as they search for revenge, and trying to determine where some of the Pittman’s missing money is located. But the beautiful artistry of Barnes writing is centered on Rider’s attempts to keep his wife, who has emotional & mental issues, by his side, both physically and emotionally, while still staying true to his need to see this issue through to the end. His older brother also plays a large part in the plot, as the brothers share a sense of commitment and duty to family members and they will stake their lives on seeing this duty through till the end.
Barnes has a master piece on his hands and 280 Steps has published another winner. Barnes has certainly piqued my interest in getting my hands of more of his work. I am thrilled to see this is just the first part in an expected trilogy revolving around Rider and the Pittman family. If the future books in the series reach the heights this novel has set, this could be a trilogy for the ages. This was some strong writing and I am in awe of what I just read.
Matt Rider works as a conservationist and is often at war with the local bad-ass family, the Pittmans. When Rider is attacked by one of the family members and barely survives, he sets off a chain reaction that has him popping pills to alleviate the injuries he receives, traipsing through the mountain with his brother as they search for revenge, and trying to determine where some of the Pittman’s missing money is located. But the beautiful artistry of Barnes writing is centered on Rider’s attempts to keep his wife, who has emotional & mental issues, by his side, both physically and emotionally, while still staying true to his need to see this issue through to the end. His older brother also plays a large part in the plot, as the brothers share a sense of commitment and duty to family members and they will stake their lives on seeing this duty through till the end.
Barnes has a master piece on his hands and 280 Steps has published another winner. Barnes has certainly piqued my interest in getting my hands of more of his work. I am thrilled to see this is just the first part in an expected trilogy revolving around Rider and the Pittman family. If the future books in the series reach the heights this novel has set, this could be a trilogy for the ages. This was some strong writing and I am in awe of what I just read.
July 22, 2016
I'll admit to being kind of a sucker for tough guys who love their dogs and their family. Even if they don't make the best choices, their heart's in it, and you gotta love 'em. Matt Rider is one such protagonist, and I found myself rooting for him even as I questioned, Dude, what the hell are you doing? Granted, I didn't have much time for such reflection as Matt squeezed off shots, fortified himself with Oxy, and kicked down doors with a broken ankle. "Ridgerunner"'s style is lean and mean, and frequently funny. I look forward to more from Rusty Barnes; I think he's got a big book in him in the future.
July 2, 2017
Since the 2016 US Election, most people now know that Pennsylvania is much more than Philadelphia and its suburbs. Between the City of Brotherly Love and Pittsburgh, there is a vast land filled with farms, forests, mountains and, yes, even Harrisburg. Set in north central Pennsylvania, Rusty Barnes'
Ridgerunner
(280 Steps) is a novel about the clash of two families, one that is sort-of law-abiding and another, not so much.
The Pittmans are a family of poachers and hillbilly hoodlums where the boys "were born, bred, and mature criminals by age sixteen". The Riders are rednecks figuring out how to get by within the confines of society as the land around them is being forever changed by fracking. Ridgerunner opens with Matt Rider, a part-time game warden for the Commonwealth, following two of the oldest Pittmans, Soldier and Jake, through the woods and hills. Pursuing the Pittmans is one thing, capturing them is another. Matt is shot and then subsequently falls into an abandoned well. After Matt is rescued, the chase begins, though which family is doing the chasing changes several times throughout the book.
Barnes, who grew up in northern Pennsylvania where much of Ridgerunner takes place, has a precise attention to geographic detail, whether the characters referring to Pennsylvania as PA — pronounced letter by letter, not as Pa (father) — or how the ATV and animal trails vein through the woods. And then there are guns, lots of guns. The amount of guns that Matt owns is not an exaggeration; guns are tools for those that live in the country, different guns for different purposes whether it is for work, deer hunting or ridding one's property of squirrels.
At times I had problems with Matt's motivation as he goes through the novel with a "hold my beer and watch this" mentality. But in order to enjoy Ridgerunner, one must realize that the character's deep-seated hatred of cops, a liberal use oxy, and redneck revenge fantasies, fuel the character's impulses.
The Pittmans are a family of poachers and hillbilly hoodlums where the boys "were born, bred, and mature criminals by age sixteen". The Riders are rednecks figuring out how to get by within the confines of society as the land around them is being forever changed by fracking. Ridgerunner opens with Matt Rider, a part-time game warden for the Commonwealth, following two of the oldest Pittmans, Soldier and Jake, through the woods and hills. Pursuing the Pittmans is one thing, capturing them is another. Matt is shot and then subsequently falls into an abandoned well. After Matt is rescued, the chase begins, though which family is doing the chasing changes several times throughout the book.
Barnes, who grew up in northern Pennsylvania where much of Ridgerunner takes place, has a precise attention to geographic detail, whether the characters referring to Pennsylvania as PA — pronounced letter by letter, not as Pa (father) — or how the ATV and animal trails vein through the woods. And then there are guns, lots of guns. The amount of guns that Matt owns is not an exaggeration; guns are tools for those that live in the country, different guns for different purposes whether it is for work, deer hunting or ridding one's property of squirrels.
I broke down and cleaned the .40 first, awkward as hell with one hand, as it had survived the bottom of a well and deserved better treatment than I usually gave it. Then I lovingly took care of the 9mm Glock 19 and my .22 . I wrapped the .22 in its holster and deposited it on top of the fridge out of reach of any prying hands. The .40 went back with the uniform, and the 9mm on my bedside table. I left them all loaded. Then I took the plug out of my shotgun, loaded it, and set it with a box of shells by the back door.
At times I had problems with Matt's motivation as he goes through the novel with a "hold my beer and watch this" mentality. But in order to enjoy Ridgerunner, one must realize that the character's deep-seated hatred of cops, a liberal use oxy, and redneck revenge fantasies, fuel the character's impulses.
November 4, 2016
I think this book is revising the concept of neo-noir. I mean it reminds me of the classic period (Hammett, McCoy, Goodis, maybe Thompson), substituting the poverty and disrespected rural community for the inner city working class areas that the numerous crime writers of the 1950s depicted. The sharpness with which Rusty Barnes brings the ridgerunners of northern PA to the readers' consciousness, and the pitch-perfect language he uses to do so, is remarkable. Thee is a depth to the narrative that is deeply authentic.
August 16, 2023
I devoured this book in just two days. Barnes has a terse, fast-moving cadence that hooks the reader. He successfully builds an atmosphere of rural desolation and decay, of good, decent folk trying to survive in a word that is decaying around them. That decay threatens to infiltrate those good folks' souls as the stakes get progressively more deadly. It's a sleek and riveting story of rival Pennsylvania families fighting a war outside the boundaries of the rules set by law. Highly recommended.
August 8, 2022
Read this in a day. Snappy prose, great descriptions and a breakneck plot. Keen on reading more from Rusty Barnes...
June 27, 2016
There aren't too many writers who have equal faculty with poetry, short stories, and novels. Rusty Barnes is one of them. Adding this one to his previous novel ("Reckoning") it is safe to say that Barnes is now two-for-two in long-form outings.
Matt is a conservation officer who finds himself waylaid by a clan of Appalachian brothers who probably would have been moon-shining in the good old days, but now have their hands in darker pies. Once the action gets rolling, it rarely lets up. And when there isn't action, there's edge-of-the-seat suspense (think "Cape Fear" with a family of sinister men, rather than one, and that gives you a rough approximation of the book, which is destined to be a movie if the bigwigs can stop turning out superhero tripe for five minutes).
The book moves at a crisp pace, and while characterization is briefly sketched, every character is real and three-dimensional. What I liked most about the book was the way it 1) Started at the edge of a cliff 2) It gave the reader their money's worth in terms of action, but also gave us a behind-the-scenes look at an Appalachia ravaged by fracking. It's the kind of America we all know exist, but rarely get a (non-cliched) window onto.
Either Rusty Barnes has lived in such a patchy hollow, or he's a hell of a researcher or bluffer. In any event, this is one of those instances where the background is as rich as the fore-, and the book is all the better for it. Highly recommended.
Matt is a conservation officer who finds himself waylaid by a clan of Appalachian brothers who probably would have been moon-shining in the good old days, but now have their hands in darker pies. Once the action gets rolling, it rarely lets up. And when there isn't action, there's edge-of-the-seat suspense (think "Cape Fear" with a family of sinister men, rather than one, and that gives you a rough approximation of the book, which is destined to be a movie if the bigwigs can stop turning out superhero tripe for five minutes).
The book moves at a crisp pace, and while characterization is briefly sketched, every character is real and three-dimensional. What I liked most about the book was the way it 1) Started at the edge of a cliff 2) It gave the reader their money's worth in terms of action, but also gave us a behind-the-scenes look at an Appalachia ravaged by fracking. It's the kind of America we all know exist, but rarely get a (non-cliched) window onto.
Either Rusty Barnes has lived in such a patchy hollow, or he's a hell of a researcher or bluffer. In any event, this is one of those instances where the background is as rich as the fore-, and the book is all the better for it. Highly recommended.
December 4, 2016
Location is a big strength here -- I always view use of a different corner of the U.S. as a positive, and I can't remember anyone writing about northern Pennsylvania/the southern tier of New York. Rusty Barnes brings this backdrop to life very well, especially how it is now with the Marcellus Shale fracking.
The inhabitants of this region and their lifestyle also come across vividly. Unfortunately, I could not get behind his central character, Matt. I found him to be an unlikable self-destructive knucklehead who brought others down with him. Although that may have been what Barnes intended, it detracted from my enjoyment.
The inhabitants of this region and their lifestyle also come across vividly. Unfortunately, I could not get behind his central character, Matt. I found him to be an unlikable self-destructive knucklehead who brought others down with him. Although that may have been what Barnes intended, it detracted from my enjoyment.
July 20, 2016
Rusty Barnes is a fantastic writer. He understands that you can do more with less. His writing can be spartan at times, but he does a lot with a very language. His ability to convey loyalty and honor amongst thieves in a rural setting is spot on. I have to agree that fans of Woodrell and Pollack will certainly enjoy Barnes. But make no mistake, Barnes is not mimicking these authors. Rather, he's part of a tradition of writers who speak to a particular southern way of life and the crime that comes with it. This is by far one of the best books on 280 Steps.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews