It Dies with You

By: Scott Blackburn

Narrated by: Chris Andrew Ciulla

Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

For nearly a decade, twenty-nine-year-old Hudson Miller has made his living in the boxing ring, but a post-fight brawl threatens to derail his career. Desperate for money, Hudson takes a gig as a bouncer at a dive bar. That’s when life delivers him another hook to the jaw: his estranged father, Leland, has been murdered in what appears to be a robbery-gone-bad at his salvage yard, Miller’s Pull-a-Part.

Soon after his father’s funeral, Hudson learns he’s inherited the salvage yard, and he returns to his Bible-belt hometown of Flint Creek, North Carolina, to run the business. But the business is far more than junk cars and scrap metal. It was the site of an illegal gun-running ring. And the secrets don’t end there: a grisly discovery is made at the yard that thrusts Hudson into the fight of his life.

Reeling for answers, Hudson joins forces with his father’s former employee, 71-year-old, beer-guzzling Vietnam vet Charlie Shoaf, and a feisty teenage girl, Lucy Reyes, who’s fiercely seeking justice for her own family tragedy. With a murderer on the loose and no answers from the local cops, the trio of outcasts launch an investigation. The shocking truth they uncover will shake Flint Creek to its very core.

©2022 Scott Blackburn (P)2022 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Great debut book

Great debut book. Definitely worth checking out this new author. I look forward to.reading future titles.

One of my 2022 Must-Reads

Hudson Miller is a down-and-out boxer who is takes a job as a bouncer at a local, townie bar when he finds out his estranged father as been murdered. Very little is left to Hudson, except is father’s rentals and a salvage yard. With not much money left in his account, Hudson takes over the business up in Flint Creek, Michigan, but everything at the salvage yard isn't what it seems. Hudson teams up with a few others to make an unlikely trio to investigate what happened.

Scott Blackburn delivers a powerful debut thriller with It Dies With You. In this raw and gritty southern noir, Blackburn weaves together intriguing characters and elegant writing that hits you like a punch. Blackburn should be an author that everyone picks up this summer. So far, this is my summer pick that any crime fiction fan will love.

I was truly impressed with Ciulla's narration as well. I've listened to a handful of different books he's narrated and I've really enjoyed them all. This book was a fantastic piece of Southern noir, and I highly recommend it.

Great read!

I Loved this book! I couldn't put it down! Can't wait for his next one.

Fantastic Novel

IT DIES WITH YOU is one of the best debut novels I've ever read. I haven't enjoyed a new author like this since I read Jack Carr's THE TERMINAL LIST.

This book has accelerated to the top of my 2022 Reading List as one of my favorites, and it will be one of those books I plan to revisit again and again. It was captivating and a non-stop thrill ride.

Fantastic novel! Highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys southern crime!

Incredible Story / Amazing Narration

IT DIES WITH YOU is the result of an intricate story written by gifted author. The narration by Andrew Ciulla brought it to life. Get this. You’ll enjoy the story, and you’ll love Charlie.

Excellent debut

Enjoyed this debut novel thoroughly! The narrator did a great job of distinguishing all the characters.

Really enjoyed this book!

I commute far distances for work so I’m all audio book all the time right now. The narration enriched this story for me. I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the different Carolina dialects but this narrator did a nice job of giving the main characters unique voices that were easy to follow during my painful trips from NJ to NYC. If I read this independently, I’m not sure Charlie would have been as fun a character for me. Credit the narrator for that and the author for giving him and the protagonist such great lines. Like when Hudson says, ‘you really should be a motivational speaker, Charlie’ which is something my dad might say. I actually lol’d.

I’m really enjoying the emergence of new writers like Scott, S.A. Cosby and Jordan Harper. They’re capturing the topical references and the tone/mood of today in ways that my previous low brow titans - Stephen king, Nelson demille and Michael Connelly - simply cannot - and the latters’ efforts are bothering me. I urge these new writers to keep writing and I’ll keep reading - and I hope others do too.

Only reason for me to not give five stars on story is a personal preference for an element of romance in a novel, and all three emerging writers that I referenced are missing that ingredient so far - probably cause they’re new writers and there is nuance to that type of intimate interaction, tying it back to the narrative and moving the story forward without losing pace. King does that so well. But character development occurs in action and thrills as well as in response to a romantic interest. It can add texture to these cool stories and I hope these writers find their way.

I also would have liked a fight scene with our jujitsu trained protagonist/semi pro boxer where he showed how dangerous he could be.

At any rate, I highly recommend this one. Cool premise, fun characters and the story moves ahead at a good pace. If your an audio book person like me then get this for the narration- dude does a good job. Let’s help these newer writers stay published!

Discovery of a new genre of fiction

Someone on my socials was touting how great this book was, because I needed something new to read, I chose it. It was a great story with ok narration. (Too many characters sounded alike). I rooted for the main character from the beginning. Watching him be so very aware of his situation and place in the world was refreshing. He never made excuses. Once he moved back to his home town, you really got to see just how much he cared about doing the right thing, even if it is at his own expense.

The other characters, Lucy & Charlie were so endearing to the very end. The end was lied up a little too neatly, but the other 93% of the story had my full attention. I couldn’t put it down.

Lucy

Good story. This title had Interesting characters and some twists and turns. Well written story.

No, I choose to die alone

The story is boring and didn't hold my attention. The writing was weak and the plot was thin. The characters' North Carolina accents were cartoonish and overdone.