Distant Sons

By the New York Times bestselling author of Descent and The Current, an absorbing new work of literary suspense about two young working men who forge a friendship despite secrets in their past, and whose actions ignite the passions and violence of a small Wisconsin town still haunted by the unsolved disappearance of three boys in the 1970s. For readers of Peter Heller, Liz Moore, and Cormac McCarthy.

What if?

What if Sean Courtland's old Chevy truck had broken down somewhere else? What if he'd never met Denise Givens, a waitress at a local tavern in the Wisconsin town where he lands? Or Dan Young, another young man like Sean drifting through, having fled Minnesota for reasons unknown? Instead, together Sean and Dan pick up carpentry and plumbing work for an old man named Marion Devereaux, and Sean gets drawn into the lives of Denise and her father-and of the townspeople, all haunted by the disappearance of three young boys decades ago, in the 1970s.

As the paths of these characters converge, observing them all is Detective Corinne Viegas, a woman whose drive to seek justice comes from her father's own failure to find those boys and the violence once done to her sister. And over the course of just a few weeks, an irreversible chain of events is set in motion that culminates in shattering violence, and the revelation of long-buried truths.

Evocative, gritty, with indelible characters and setting, Distant Sons is another immersive, gripping suspense novel by Johnston about how the most random intersection of lives can have consequences both devastating and beautiful.

"A suspensible slow burn that quietly elevates the fragile codes of honorable men."--Iowa City Press-Citizen
"[An] exceptional whodunit... Johnston is a talented and intelligent writer... This Tim Johnston fellow, he's the good stuff."--Washington Independent Review of Books
"[A] suspenseful route through the emotions and changes of sons and fathers... a revelation about the cost and sometimes benefit of being flawed humans who care about others and struggle to find a way forward. That's easily twice as good as a simple crime novel."--New York Journal of Books
"[A] wonderfully told story. Johnston had me fully invested... He masterfully wove together two distinct timelines and two completely different stories into one seamless gem of a novel that I highly recommend."--Novel Visits
"[E]loquent and riveting... Johnston expertly crisscrosses these lives in a poignant novel that is both character-driven and action-packed."--Shelf Awareness
"[S]hocking, beautiful and captivating."--SheReads
"An exceptional novel."--Library Journal
"Complex characters . . . distinguish this literary thriller about a Wisconsin town's unsolved mystery and the outsider who uncovers buried truths."--People
"Excellent. Every one of his books just get better and better." -Tim Budd, buyer at Prairie Lights--Iowa Public Radio/ Talk of Iowa
"Johnston brings the same attention to his novels that he does to his carpentry... a patient focus on the little things that matter, whether he's describing a chair in an interrogation room or plumbing the depths of a character's heart."--The Capital Times
"Quietly elevates the fragile codes of honorable men."--Kirkus Reviews
"Richly satisfying... Three-dimensional characters and a multilayered--though not overly complex--plot make this small-town saga sing. Johnston continues to impress."--Publishers Weekly
"Set in struggling blue-collar America, Johnston's newest novel, Distant Sons, will strike a chord with fans of Peter Heller, Liz Moore and Cormac McCarthy."--Columbus Dispatch
"The secrets run deep in the eloquent crime novel... a moving tale of friendship, attraction and long-term loss, told with quiet grace and emotional precision."--Washington Post
"Tim's writing -- lovely, smart, dark -- reminds me a bit of Peter Heller, Dennis Lehane, and Ivy Pochoda..."--Blood & Whiskey (Neal Thompson Substack)
"This book kept me up at night. Eerie, unsettling, and addictive."
Ash Davidson, author of Damnation Spring--Ash Davidson, author of Damnation Spring
"Distant Sons is a mystery about a serial killer, yes, but it's also not that at all: It's a heartbreaking story about family, failure, and the fallout from violence. Tim Johnston has crafted a riveting novel that takes us into struggling blue collar America, and locates the hope hidden inside devastating loss. A beautiful book."
--Janelle Brown, bestselling author of Pretty Things
"A gripping portrayal of how bad reputations, best intentions, and poignantly interconnected fates can haunt unmoored souls in small-town America, Distant Sons presents Tim Johnston as an heir apparent to Cormac McCarthy. Never in my decades of reading has trouble begotten trouble as dramatically--or with as much wise insight--as it does in this book." --Mark Wish, founding editor of Coolest American Stories, author of Necessary Deeds
"Tim Johnston has once again raised the bar for the literary thriller. Distant Sons is elegant and edgy, refined and complex. It excavates the truth from the darkest recesses of the past and shines a light towards the possibility of a redemptive future."--Ivy Pochoda, author of These Women and Sing Her Down
"Tim Johnston returns in dazzling form with DISTANT SONS, an intricate, haunting novel sure to resonate with fans of Dennis Lehane, Peter Heller, and James Lee Burke. Johnston's plot is tense and his pacing swift, but he's after bigger game here, with questions of identity, intentions, and legacies merging in a tale that will linger long after it is finished. He's also one of the finest prose stylists in the game, stacking polished sentences with a master's touch. Don't miss this one." --Michael Koryta, New York Times bestselling author of An Honest Man
"Tim Johnston's Distant Sons is the kind of novel that inspires writers like me to want to step up our game. His prose is both elegant and raw, with characters so real you want to sit down and have a beer with them. Mr. Johnston is a writer with a gift, and if you haven't had the pleasure to read him, I highly recommend picking up this book."--Allen Eskens, bestselling author of The Life We Bury and Forsaken Country

Tim Johnston is the author of the novels Descent, The Current, the story collection Irish Girl, and the young adult novel Never So Green. He holds degrees from the University of Iowa and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is the recipient of the 2015 Iowa Author Award and currently lives in Iowa City, Iowa.

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