Fourth of July Creek

SHORTLISTED FOR THE JAMES TAIT BLACK PRIZE FOR FICTION WINNER OF THE CWA JOHN CREASEY (NEW BLOOD) DAGGER (award for the best crime novel by a debut author)A dark and powerful debut novel set in the hardscrabble American heartlands.'If I knew for a certain ty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life...'After trying to help Benjamin Pearl, an undernourished, nearly feral eleven-year-old boy living in the Montana wilderness, social worker Pete Snow comes face-to-face with the boy s profoundly disturbed father, Jeremiah. With courage and caution, Pete slowly earns a measure of trust from this paranoid survivalist itching for a final conflict that will signal the coming End Times. But as Pete s own family spins out of control, Jeremiah s activities spark the full-blown interest of the FBI, putting Pete at the centre of a massive manhunt from which no one will emerge unscathed.In this shattering and iconic novel, Smith Henderson explores the complexities of freedom, community, grace, suspicion and anarchy, brilliantly depicting America s disquieting and violent contradictions. FOURTH OF JULY CREEK is an unforgettable, unflinching debut that marks the arrival of a major literary talent.