A Short Time to Die

In the gripping opening chapter of Bickford’s uneven debut, teen Marly Shaw is on the run in the woods outside Charon Springs, N.Y., one fall night in 2000. Her stepfather, Del Harris, and his father, Zeke, are chasing her with guns. Fortunately for Marly, the truck that Del and Zeke are driving winds up at the bottom of a ravine. Both men are dead. Flash forward to 2013 and the discovery of two disarticulated skeletons in Santa Clara, Calif. DNA testing identifies the bones as those of Louise Rasmussen and her son, Troy Rasmussen, who were known as Louise Harris and Troy Harris in Charon Springs. Two Santa Clara County detectives travel to the small town, where interviews with cops and surviving members of the Harris clan, for generations a “sort of rural mafia,” reveal details about their criminal activities, including killings. Flashbacks chart Marly’s friendship with Elaine Fardig, a high school student whom Louise and Troy assaulted, and the girls’ escape from Charon Springs, but the frequent narrative shifts reduce the story’s momentum. [em]Agent: Anne Hawkins, John Hawkins & Associates. (Feb.) [/em]