Jon Bassoff is the author of nine novels. His mountain gothic novel, Corrosion, has been translated in French and German and was nominated for the Grand Prix de Litterature Policiere, France’s biggest crime fiction award. The Disassembled Man has been adapted for the big screen.
Additionally, the film version of The Drive-Thru Crematorium is fully financed with filming set to take place later in 2021 or 2022. He also wrote the screenplay for Bizarre Love Triangle, which was named a semi-finalist at the New York Cinematography Awards and a finalist at the Seattle Film Festival for best short film.
Jon’s novels have been lauded by authors like Craig Johnson (Longmire series), James Grady (Six Days of the Condor), and Paul Trembley (A Headful of Ghosts) to name a few. His work has appeared in New York Magazine as well. Bassoff teaches high school English where he is known by students and faculty alike as the deranged writer guy.
SYNOPSIS – ‘Beneath Cruel Waters’
Holt Davidson, a Kansas firefighter, hasn’t been back to his hometown of Thompsonville, Colorado, for more than two decades, but when he learns that his estranged mother has taken her own life, he returns for the funeral, hoping to make peace with her memory. He spends the night at his childhood home, rummaging through each room, exploring the past. But instead of nostalgic souvenirs, he discovers a gun, a love letter, and a Polaroid photograph of a man lying in his own blood.
Who is the dead man? Was his mother the one who killed him, and, if so, why? Who sent the love letter? And what role did his sister, institutionalized since she was a teenager, play in this act of violence? As his own traumatic memories begin to resurface, Holt begins an investigation into his mother’s and sister’s pasts—as well as his own.
A wrenching psychological thriller, Jon Bassoff’s “Beneath Cruel Waters” reminds us that the sins of the mothers are the sins of the sons.