A Healthy Fear of Man

Paul Little #2

by Aaron Philip Clark

Christian, conservative, and facing fiscal bankruptcy, Pharris County is a casualty of the economic downturn and the demise of big tobacco. And it’s where Paul Little begins a new life on his deceased grandfather’s farm. But his self-imposed exile is short-lived when he meets “Bo”, a former Sheriff and his grandfather’s old friend, and Gilly Catlett, a precocious girl with a dark secret.

Paul’s splendid isolation is repeatedly interrupted by Gilly, who begs to fish his pond and has a penchant for conversation. An unlikely friendship forms between them, but when Gilly is discovered strangled and her lifeless body floating in his pond, the Sheriff deems Paul suspect number one. Facing a potential frame, Paul soon learns there is no justice in Pharris County. Rumors of wrongful convictions, corruption among county officials and law enforcement, and racial intolerance that echoes views of the past ensures Paul an uphill battle.

As the Sheriff doggedly pursues Paul as the killer, Paul turns to Bo and an empathetic local named Luisa Ferry for help. Now, the man who longed to be alone must rely on others in the fight to prove his innocence and bring Gilly Catlett’s true killer to justice.

Praise for A HEALTHY FEAR OF MAN:

“They say still waters run deep and Aaron Philip Clark’s books are exactly that—a calm surface over a roiling and violent depth. A perfect example of a crime novel being about so much more than crime.” —Eric Beetner, author of Rumrunners

“T.S. Eliot referred to it as tradition and individual talent, the manner in which new work at once honors, builds upon, and questions what has come before. Chester Himes, Richard Wright, James Baldwin—Aaron Philip Clark has been paying attention.”—James Sallis, author of Cypress Grove and Chester Himes: A Life

198 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2012

About the author

Aaron Philip Clark is a native of Los Angeles, CA. He is a novelist, screenwriter, and former recruit of the Los Angeles Police Department. His first novel, THE SCIENCE OF PAUL: A Novel of Crime (New Pulp Press), was published in 2011. The debut was met with interest and acclaim. Clark followed THE SCIENCE OF PAUL with A HEALTHY FEAR OF MAN (Snubnose Press), published the following year. Both novels featured the morally plagued and emotionally damaged ex-con, Paul Little, as he fought to escape the perils of Philadelphia street culture and return to his deceased grandfather’s farm in North Carolina.

After leaving his career in law enforcement, Clark returned to higher education and continued his work as an educator teaching college-level English, Creative Writing, and Humanities. During this time, Clark wrote UNDER COLOR OF LAW, a police thriller inspired by his experiences with the LAPD. The novel centered on Det. Trevor “Finn” Finnegan, a Black LAPD detective, who is tasked with investigating the murder of a young Black academy recruit amid protests against police brutality and calls for reform. The novel won the 2021 Book Pipeline Adaptation Award and was nominated for the 2022 Best Paperback Original International Thriller Writers Award. BLUE LIKE ME, the second Trevor Finnegan novel, was published on November 8, 2022, by Thomas & Mercer. The third novel in the series, THE BLUEST NIGHT, will be published on October 7, 2025.

To learn more about Aaron Philip Clark, visit www.AaronPhilipClark.com and follow him on social media @_realapcbooks (Twitter).

Reviews

[Nigel Bird · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Healthy Fear Of Man is the second in a series of Paul Little books. I must confess to have skipped the first, but that puts me in the position of being able to highly recommend this book whether you read ‘The Science Of Paul’ or not. This book has very strong legs and can definitely stand alone.



PAUL LITTLE has inherited his grandfather’s house and land and is living in it as a total outcast. When visitors arrive, he does his best to shun them no matter what their intentions. There’s a little girl (GILLY) who want to fish in his pond, there’s a young African lady (LUISA) who wants to give him free meals from the church and there’s an old-timer and ex-sheriff (BO). He does his best to keep them away, but for various reasons they refuse to listen.



The good news for Paul is that he’s finally coming close to finding peace in his life, even if that means barely surviving from what he can eat from the land and has lost any real need to keep his personal hygiene routines up to scratch. The bad news is that Gilly is found dead in his pond one morning and he’s the main suspect, predominantly because he’s black and living in a backward county in North Carolina.



Bo, indebted to Paul’s grandfather for saving his life way back, joins Paul in his attempt to clear his name and Louisa has a big heart that means she can’t help but join the team.



What follows is a series of brutal encounters as corrupt politicians, vengeful brothers, loose policemen and wild drug dealers are all sucked into the action as Paul stirs up the muddy waters.



I really enjoyed this book. It’s thought provoking and gripping at the same time.



Aaron Clark can really handle plot and back up his ideas with well-written action sequences. As the novel plays out, he keeps a steady hand and right through to the end.



What I found particularly impressive, though, was the opening third of the book where things are set up. It’s a wonderful beginning, where Paul Little has cut himself off from the world to find an uneasy peace. He’s become a scavenger, but his life experience has prepared him well for the hardships he encounters. He stays away from people, for it is people who add complication to life. Relationships are tough, so in keeping people away, he’s safer and life is easier. And being alone is safe; by avoiding others he is able to keep his darker self under wraps:

‘I once had a beast inside me, one whose nature at times even eluded me, but since being on the land it appears the beast has been beaten into submission and these days it is still.’

Paul has a fear that when he gets close to people, what he has is contagious:

‘People around me...they catch hell – they catch it like a sickness.’

Unfortunately for Paul, he’s all too human. Isolation isn’t going to work because people aren’t going to leave him alone. This means he forms attachments to people and develops feelings for them in spite of his intentions. As soon as these feelings take root, he is returned to the complications of social existence With these building relationships come responsibilities, so when Paul tries to find out who killed Gilly, he is eventually more motivated by finding the murderer for her rather for the sake of his freedom.

Paul Little has a very positive view of human life, even though on the surface it may seem bleak. We’re all capable of making rash decisions or of acting entirely by animal impulse. Eventually, some people are going to end up getting caught when they’ve lost it:

‘For some, all it takes is one bad day, one bad decision – a crime of passion is what the cops call it, others call it temporary insanity – I call it human nature.’

A Healthy Fear Of Man is a serious book that’s a hell of a lot of fun to read.

I may be reaching here, but I was reminded of Ralph Ellison and his ‘Invisible Man’ in the early stages. Clark may have even offered a tiny reference point here as Paul Little talks about advice his grandfather gave him about being a black man:

‘You’ve got to keep invisible, boy. Stay out of the law’s view. They can’t kill what they can’t see.’

If Paul Little is being invisible, can he still have an impact upon a society where justice is multi-faceted, the law is corrupt, where people are struggling to get by and where racism is prevalent?

The biggest message in the book, the way I see it, is to all of us.

Should we go about congratulating ourselves on the progress the world has made over the years? Has racism been put to bed so that the world lives together as one happy family? In nations where laws are set and seem equal on the surface, is this equality carried through in all pockets of that nation?

Of course not. We need to be vigilant, active and avoid complacency. Take me, for example. I write about a black author and cite Ellison - is that something I need to check myself for (I still think that cap fits, though, and maybe you could let me know).

The book points a finger at the Southern States of the US and challenges them to find out whether the New South with all of the rosy connotations, isn’t just the Old South with a flaking coat of paint.

Which is where I find myself going out of my depth.

It’s a great book. One to be enjoyed and to be considered. Very good indeed.

[Benoit Lelièvre · Rating 5 out of 5]

You will often hear the phrase "existential noir" referring to hardboiled writers that think way too highly about themselves and compare their books favorably to Albert Camus. But if you really want to know what an existential noir book is like, you have to read Aaron Philip Clark's Paul Little books.

Given that I was already familiar with the recurring character and sympathetic to his longings, A HEALTHY FEAR OF MAN completely redefined my relationship to the character. This time, Paul isn't looking to flee a world that has passed him by and became toxic to him. It's even better. He is put in front of a dilemma that will force him to take a stance about what kind of man he is.

Aaron Philip Clark's prose is simply remarkable. It has that emergency to it, that makes you feel like you're doing something important by reading him and now that I'm done I'm still convince that I did do something important. I literally read the last third in one sitting. I could not pry myself away.

[Rory Costello · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Science of Paul" was good. This is excellent. The first outing reminded me of a player who had a promising rookie season -- it had rough spots, but the talent was clear to see. This time out, Aaron Philip Clark delivered in every way: a powerful story, rich and evocative language, superb characters across the board. He's really earned the right to sit at the same table with one of his prime influences, Walter Mosley. What I like about Mosley's books is something that Clark also provides: you come to know more about an important part of the American experience.