Master of the Delta (ISBN 0156033208)

The usual: Black, no sugar:
Thomas H. Cook revisits familiar territory in Master of the Delta: The very first paragraph tells you this will be a tragedy of Greek melodramatic proportions. He does not disappoint. In this beautifully written novel, Cook again explores his well worn themes of family conflicts, lost love, tortured souls, misunderstanding with devastating outcomes, winding down to the appropriate somber ending. I especially liked his use of time changes and different voices troughout the story. The plot twist at the very end also took me by surprise. Some may find these themes excessively dark, but that is precisely why fans of Cook come back again and again for another dose. Nobody can put together a modern tragic/mystery like Thomas H. Cook.

master of the delta:
I believe that Thomas H. Cook is the best writer in his genre writing today, and I have read everything of his. This is in keeping with the high literary qualaity of his work and did not disappoint me. I would hope that more people discover him and may write a book about him someday soon to help that happen.

Turgid, roiling prose, melodrama, bloated run-on sentences: maddeningly entertaining!:
I believe there are many hints in this novel that it is meant to be a "literary parody" (an actual phrase lifted from the book). The teacher/protagonist chastises his class for its "run-on sentences" followed by one of the same from our esteemed, loquacious author. Hilarious, twisted, maddeningly entertaining, "Master of the Delta" is good to the last drop. Whatever you do, don't skim and don't skimp. You won't be disappointed. I found myself missing the mayhem the day after I put it to bed.

Time changes everything but the past:
The Master of the Backstory has done it again -- Cook has created a novel infused with a mystery that does not become solved until the very end. As I said in a review of another of his books, it is impossible to second guess this guy. His stories, set in the present, have been set in motion by events of the past, but every angle is not revealed until the final page, despite references to the outcomes of how the lives of subsidiary characters pan out, indicating that the story is being told from a perspective even further in the future.

Masterful mystery:
Jack Branch has returned to his father's Delta estate to teach at the local high school. During his class on historical evil he's shocked to discover student Eddie is the son of local murderer the Coed Killer - and tries to mentor the boy to help him set a good example. When a friendship with the boy's father ensues, danger evolves in this masterful mystery recommended for any general-interest collection strong in novels and mysteries.