[In the following brief review of Furors Die, Merritt praises Hoffman's talent for describing character and place, but denounces the novel for its old-fashioned attitudes, particularly in regard to its portrayal of sexual relations.]

When William Hoffman is described as an “old-fashioned” writer, what it means is that he's a Southern writer who tries to maintain the old Southern values—to life, as well as literature—in a changing world. In this, his 10th novel, the former writer-in-residence at Hampden-Sydney College and longtime resident of Charlotte Courthouse tries to tell a modern story in those somewhat dated terms, and he draws both his strengths and weaknesses from the effort.

Corruption is the central theme of Furors Die, and Hoffman uses the oldest plot in the world. He focuses on the lives of two men—the one who has all the advantages and the one who does not—and follows them until the “have-not” is seduced by the money and influence that has been held over him all his life. And, as it must be in such a parable, he pays the consequences.

The setting is a fictitious town in West Virginia, but with lots of Virginia references. The boys are Wylie Duval of a wealthy family and Amos “Pinky” Cody of a poor and deeply religious upbringing. Hoffman creates a narrative voice that follows their lives through 62 psychologically penetrating scenes. He follows them through their teen years, their separate directions in college and marriage, and through Wylie's stability in a stock brokerage firm and Pinky's shift from defender of the poor to his thirst for power.

Hoffman fans will find plenty of the author's special talent: his spare writing, detailed sense of place and ability to find the enobling qualities in human weakness. The problems are in the later part of the story, where parable mars realism and where the author's old-fashioned attitudes about sex and almost silly depictions of drunkardness mar what is otherwise a polished, competent and somewhat dated novel.