Pike

Description

Douglas Pike is no longer the murderous hustler he was in his youth, but reforming hasn't made him much kinder. He's just living out his life in his Appalachian hometown, working odd jobs with his partner, Rory, and hemming in his demons the best he can. And his best seems just good enough until his estranged daughter overdoses and he is called upon to take in his 12-year-old granddaughter, Wendy. Just as the two are beginning to forge a relationship, Derrick Kreiger, a dirty Cincinnati cop, starts to take an unhealthy interest in the girl, leaving Pike to take on the corrupt officer.

Benjamin Whitmer is a writer who has contributed fiction and nonfiction works to anthologies, essay collections, and magazines. He lives in Boulder, Colorado.

"Without so much as a sideways glance towards gentility, Pike is one righteous mutherf**ker of a read. I move that we put Whitmer's balls in a vise and keep slowly notching up the torque until he's willing to divulge the secret of how he managed to hit such a perfect stride his first time out of the blocks." --Ward Churchill "Benjamin Whitmer's Pike captures the grime and the rage of my not-so fair city with disturbing precision. The words don't just tell a story here, they scream, bleed, and burst into flames. Pike, like its eponymous main character, is a vicious punisher that doesn't mince words or take prisoners, and no one walks away unscathed. This one's going to haunt me for quite some time." --Nathan Singer "This is what noir is, what it can be when it stops playing nice--blunt force drama stripped down to the bone, then made to dance across the page." --Stephen Graham Jones