Charlie Louvin

Benjamin Whitmer

Satan Is Real: The Ballad of the Louvin Brothers

Patterson Wells, a tree clearer in disaster zones who is still dealing with the loss of his young son, finds both his future and past tested when he, upon a return trip to Colorado, stops to visit an old friend, setting in motion a disastrous chain of events that leads to a violent bid for justice. 50,000 first printing.

Cry Father

Patterson Wells, still dealing with the loss of his young son, finds himself tested when he stops to visit an old friend and sets in motion a disastrous chain of events that leads to a violent bid for justice.

Gerade noch war Douglas Pike, ehemals gewalttätiger Abzocker und Berufsverbrecher, auf dem Weg der Resozialisierung, im eisigen Abstellgleis der gottverlassenen Appalachen. Da holt ihn die Nachricht ein, dass seine ihm entfremdete Tochter an einer Überdosis gestorben ist. Ihr einziges Vermächtnis ein zwölf Jahre altes Mädchen, das ausgerechnet in Pikes harter Obhut landet. Dabei hat er alle Hände voll damit zu tun, sich mit Gelegenheitsjobs über Wasser und mit hartem Suff die Dämonen vom Leib zu halten. Als die beiden langsam zueinanderfinden, kommt ihnen Derrick Krieger, ein krummer Bulle aus Cincinnati, in die Quere, sodass Pike kein anderer Ausweg bleibt, als selbst herauszufinden, wer seine Tochter wirklich auf dem Gewissen hat. Dass er sich dabei mit Gott, der Welt, mit brutalen Gesetzeshütern und dem erbarmungslosen Winter Ohios anlegt, führt zu einer blutigen Suche in einer Vergangenheit, die ihn unausweichlich einholt.

Kriminalroman

Im Westen nichts

The acclaimed debut from the author of Cry Father, nominated for France’s most prestigious crime fiction award, is a “relentlessly visceral” (Seattle Examiner) story of fatherhood and redemption with the sharp edge of a thriller and a dark heart that “easily rivals Larry Brown’s most renowned novels” (Spinetingler Magazine). Douglas Pike is no longer the murderous hustler of his youth, but he’s certainly no kinder. He works odd jobs, just living out his life in Appalachia with his partner Rory, hemming in his demons the best he can. His best seems just good enough until his estranged daughter overdoses, and he takes in his twelve-year-old granddaughter, Wendy. Just as the two are beginning to forge a relationship, a dirty cop kills a black man and, while on hiatus from the force, takes an unhealthy interest in Wendy. Pike and Rory head to Cincinnati to learn what they can about the death of Pike’s daughter and the crooked cop, three evenly matched predators circling a human wilderness of junkie squats, roadhouse bars, and homeless Vietnam vet encampments. Now featuring extended excerpts from Cry Father, the novel LitReactor called “a gut punch of raw storytelling power…absolutely uncompromising,” Benjamin Whitmer’s inimitable literary voice is a tour de force infused with acerbic wit and keen wisdom about the flawed nature of humanity.

Pike

1895. Le vice règne en maître à Denver, minée par la pauvreté et la violence. Une poignée d’orphelins s’est réfugiée dans une usine désaffectée. À leur tête, Cora les protège farouchement du haut de ses quinze ans, avec l’aide de Sam, un an de moins, éperdument amoureux d’elle. Sam est le seul qui sache lire : c’est ainsi qu’il devient l’interprète de Goodnight, un géant défiguré et muet, homme de main d’un gangster local. Expéditions punitives, lynchages et explosions précipitent l’adolescent dans l’univers honni des adultes, qui le fascine et le repousse à la fois. Au point de dynamiter son enfance, et de l’éloigner insidieusement de Cora.

Une histoire d’amour déchirante, un roman noir qui aborde des thèmes universels (la corruption, la violence, l’initiation) et une plume exceptionnelle. Magnifique.

Les Dynamiteurs

Get ready for one of America’s great untold stories: the true saga of the Louvin Brothers, a mid-century Southern gothic Cain and Abel and one of the greatest country duos of all time. The Los Angeles Times called them “the most influential harmony team in the history of country music,” but Emmylou Harris may have hit closer to the heart of the matter, saying “there was something scary and washed in the blood about the sound of the Louvin Brothers.” For readers of Johnny Cash’s irresistible autobiography and Merle Haggard’s My House of Memories, no country music library will be complete without this raw and powerful story of the duo that everyone from Dolly Parton to Gram Parsons described as their favorites: the Louvin Brothers.

Benjamin Whitmer

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