by Pete Dexter
First published 2014
Paris Trout believes he has every right to collect what he's owed. When a business deal goes wrong in Cotton Point, Georgia, just after World War II, this white store owner takes matters into his own hands. He shoots and kills a fourteen-year-old black girl, then shows no remorse. Trout cannot understand why anyone questions his actions. As the town prepares for his trial, the crime spreads like poison through Cotton Point's genteel surface. His lawyer struggles with defending a man who shows no conscience. Trout's quiet wife withers under the weight of his growing paranoia and rage. Meanwhile, Trout himself slides toward madness, consumed by his conviction that he is the victim. The killing forces everyone in Cotton Point to confront the brutal realities that their polite society has long concealed.
Genres: american-fiction, 20th-century, crime, african-american-historical-fiction
Vibes: dark, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: social-issues, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Cotton Point, Georgia
Period: Post-World War II
306 pages · Paperback · Random House Trade Paperbacks
Content warnings: racism, violence