Lena Madadhi is desperate, a middle-aged arts teacher in Los Angeles whose teen daughter has been abducted. When seeking help from a private investigator, Joe Delancey, she finds he is out on a case at a Central Valley truck stop, deep undercover among truckers, prostitutes and nomads—entrenched in a doomsday sect called Gallows Dome. The further Lena digs to find Joe, the deeper she submerges into The Dome’s hellscape, spiraling closer toward her daughter’s whereabouts than she could ever imagine. An unflinching look at the dark side of family and faith, Nolan Knight’s Gallows Dome tackles a current American landscape whose thoughts and prayers help flap its flags at half-mast—teetering on the brink of total collapse.
Praise for Gallows Dome:
“Poet Vincente Huidobro said that the writer’s job is quite simple: Invent new worlds and be careful what you say. That’s exactly what Nolan Knight does, and does wonderfully.” – James Sallis, author of Drive and Sarah Jane
“If Hubert Selby slipped off the grid and was writing bad checks from Forgotten, California–it would sound like this thrilling book: boozy, hallucinatory, volatile. Knight has a wild, degenerate charm on the line level that brings its own doomsday.” – Joshua Mohr, author of Model Citizen and All This Life
“Twisty and twisted neo-noir…Gallows Dome is a hardboiled, pitch-dark and yet weirdly-funny caper, which rolls into town from somewhere out in the literary hinterlands, where the only time is closing time and the likes of Harry Crews and Jim Thompson are revered like gods. The dialogue is natural and clipped to-the-bone, while the plot flies along with the lunatic energy of a hot-wired muscle car. If you like your writing with dirt under its nails, then let me introduce you to Nolan Knight…your new favorite writer.” – Tony O’Neill, author of Sick City, Digging the Vein and Down and Out on Murder Mile
“Intoxicating and rattling, Gallows Dome is a raw nerved journey into a subterranean realm where a determined woman out of her depth must prevail or perish all hope.” – Gary Phillips, author of One-Shot Harry
“From Central Valley to Long Beach, Nolan Knight writes about California’s criminal underbelly, its rhythms and woes, and the soul of its lost angels with absolute authority. Gallows Dome is electric, a Chandler-esque kidnapping caper that’s both gritty and tender, packing a punch when it needs to and painting those neon nightmares and truckstop tragedies with the eye of a punk rock poet. But beyond Knight’s mastery of setting are his characters, as he draws complicated heroes & villains–fathers, mothers & misfits alike–that feel absolutely heartachingly real. Gallows Dome is pure, uncut L.A. crime fiction and it’s got me jonesing for more.” – Peter Farris, author of Last Call for the Living and The Devil Himself
“Knight provides the connective tissue between Steinbeck’s skin and bones Central Valley to its sunbleached 21st century noir orphan. Forget the glitz and glam of Hollywood, Knight gives us a ride in the real California crime machine rolling beyond the freeway off ramps.” – Tom Pitts, author of Coldwater and Hustle
“There are many superb elements here, but Knight’s voice is what makes Gallows Dome wildly entertaining and memorable. He offers fast, snappy prose with a level of punchy, slangy dialogue that dances between the brilliant and the ridiculous. Knight’s voice in this novel has a bleak and darkly cynical quality of the kind suited perfectly to hard-boiled crime fiction and noir thrillers, and is reminiscent of the style of James Ellroy and more recently, Jordan Harper (Everybody Knows, 2023). I feel Knight brings us here uncomfortably close to the frazzled and fractured epicenter of contemporary America―a country teetering on the brink of total collapse. Gallows Dome is a convergence of the defiled and demented, the lurid and the hard-lucks, seasoned with a generous portion of random violence. The gripping and entertaining tale Knight splashes on the page here is definitely worth the ride.” – CrimeFictionCritic.com **5 Star Review**
“From perfectly pitched conversation to funky dives to cultish sadism that you cannot rip your eyes away from, Gallows Dome channels Bloch’s Psycho, McCoy’s Kiss Tomorrow Goodby, and early Cormac McCarthy in his Cities of the Plain plaintiveness. There’s true madness here, and a Gothic-level shock of recognition.” – Jay Gertzman, author of Beyond Twisted Sorrow
“In his new crime thriller, Nolan Knight creates deliciously wicked, tough as nails villains, their souls on ice, including the terrifying X-Man. His fresh, jargony SoCal hoodlum prose crackles with shocking clarity and his protagonists are brilliantly human—scarred and battered by the hands they’ve been dealt, yet courageous beyond all expectations. Gallows Dome will leave you gasping for breath.” – Patrick H. Moore, author of 27 Days
“An atmospheric, contemporary, gritty noir tale replete with damsels in distress, a down and out detective, a hoedown, a showdown, an angel, and the devil incarnate—what more could you ask for?” —Steven Max Russo, author of The Dead Don’t Sleep
“Gallows Dome has it all. Missing children, desperate parents, drug dealers, psycho killers, private investigators, cult members, truck stop cuties, you name it. There’s so much here it’s like getting two books for the price of one.” —Tim O’Mara, author of the Raymond Donne series
“This noir thriller drops you into a hellish world of drugs, desperation, and deranged cultism. You will be riveted to the fiery end.” —Mark Troy, author of the Ava Rome private detective series