Call Down the Thunder: A Crime Novel

by Dietrich Kalteis

Desperate times call for desperate measures in Kalteis’s lightning-fast crime caper story

Sonny and Clara Myers struggle on their Kansas farm in the late 1930s, a time the Lord gave up on: their land’s gone dry, barren, and worthless; the bankers are greedy and hungry, trying to squeeze them and other farmers out of their homes; and, on top of that, their marriage is in trouble. The couple can struggle and wither along with the land or surrender to the bankers and hightail it to California like most of the others. Clara is all for leaving, but Sonny refuses to abandon the family farm.

In a fit of temper, she takes off westward in their old battered truck. Alone on the farm and determined to get back Clara and the good old days, Sonny comes up with an idea, a way to keep his land and even prosper while giving the banks a taste of their own misery. He sets the scheme in motion under the cover of the commotion being caused by a rainmaker hired by the mayor to call down the thunder and wash away everyone’s troubles.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Fiction

317 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 19, 2019

About the author

Dietrich Kalteis is the critically acclaimed author of thirteen novels and winner of the 2022 Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence for Best Crime Novel for Under an Outlaw Moon. His first novel, Ride the Lightning, won the bronze medal for Best Regional Fiction in the Independent Publisher Book Awards in 2015. House of Blazes was his fourth novel and won the silver medal for Best Historical Fiction in the Independent Publisher Book Awards in 2017. His screenplay Between Jobs is a past finalist in the Los Angeles Screenplay Contest. He enjoys life with his family on Canada’s West Coast.

Visit his website: http://www.dietrichkalteis.com/

He regularly contributes at Off the Cuff: http://www.dietrichkalteis.blogspot.ca/

And at 7 Criminal Minds:
http://www.7criminalminds.blogspot.ca/

You can also find him on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/dietrich.kalt...

and Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dietrichkalteis/

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you’ve come to think of Kalteis as a writer of modern-day Canadian-flavored gritty noir, this novel may be a jarring departure from what you are expecting. Like his House of Blazes, Kalteis sets Call of Thunder in a historical setting, this time the Kansas dust bowl 🍲 of the Great Depression. It takes you back to the time where country folk on hard times cheered on Bonnie and Clyde. The descriptions take the reader into that stark time with the dry wind blowing across the prairie and family farms decaying and barely staving off the bank’s repo men.

It was a struggle to stay even if your family had been there for three generations. Sonny was a poor dirt farmer in hock way beyond his eyeballs to the bank with debts no honest man could pay 💰. With his marriage to Clara frayed at the edges and barely holding on, he agrees to a last desperate plan to save the farm. And, robbing the bank 🏦 just might be the least of his worrries as he sees fit to go to war against the Klansmen of the Plains.

This is a work which very much brings the thirties back to life from the old cars to the circus 🎪 performers to the sense that no one was gonna help to the dusters raging all through the dry plains.

[John Lansing · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dietrich Kalteis cracks the code in his latest novel, “Call Down The Thunder.” He delivers an incredible piece of crime fiction set in the devastating dustbowl of the 1930’s that laid waste to Kansas farming, blowing most of the states topsoil to Oklahoma, and destroying lives. Kalteis’s attention to detail is impeccable without slowing down the narrative. The dust storms are so real they’re palpable, a force of nature that drives the narrative.
Dietrich’s nuanced character development pulls the reader in. The character’s motivations are so clear you find yourself rooting for the bad guys. His plotting keeps the surprises flowing as he paints riveting pictures that compel the reader to continue turning pages.
Bank robbers, flim-flam artists, rainmakers and circus folk inhabit his gritty world. Heartless bankers and government agents foreclose on broken men and women, confiscating their fragile dreams, the only thing left behind after the devastating sand storms.
Kalteis’s love of flawed characters has never been more evident. His razor sharp dialogue is stunning and honest, filled with pathos and humor, no false notes at play here.
The line between good and evil blurs in Dietrich Kalteis’s, “Call Down The Thunder.” It’s a masterful piece of writing.

[Kathy KS · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5*

The further I went in this one, the less it interested me.

This best part was the first half which illustrated how tough things got in western Kansas during the Great Depression and the dust storms.

The worst aspect was the geography of the whole thing. I'm just not sure that people would have driven the distances that were mentioned here during the 1930s. Not only are they driving on bald tires and few good roads, people just didn't run over to Hays from Hoxie for supper, or go up to Plainville from Hays because there was a better "sit down restaurant". If you've lived in central and northwest Kansas I think you'll understand; and people didn't wander all over for services as much back then...

[Lauraine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kalteis plunges the reader straight into life in the Dust bowl of Kansas in the 1930s, so much so that you can almost feel the grit in your hair. From the lingo, to the various scenarios, this crime-noir caper is a smart and excellent story, one you won't want to miss.

[Heather Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Call Down the Thunder is well written and very descriptive. The characters are interesting and the storyline is interesting.

[Ben Shakey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is best Kalteis yet.

[Linda Richards · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding. This author just keeps getting better and better.

[Pam Cunningham · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good story. I love that the people that were down and out still stood up to the wrong doers and help others along the way.

[Jacquelyn Schingeck · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very well written - You almost think you are in the dust bowl and can feel the futility of the individuals who are trying to survive and carve a life out for themselves and their families.