Benjamin Whitmer

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.

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