Set in southern Ohio and West Virginia, this shattering vision of violence and redemption follows a cast of bizarre characters from the end of the Second World War to the 1960s. Willard Russell is a tormented veteran of the South Pacific who can't save his beautiful wife, Charlotte, from cancer no matter how much sacrificial blood he pours on his 'prayer log'. Carl and Sandy Henderson trawl America's highways searching for suitable models to photograph and murder. The spider-handling preacher Roy, and his crippled guitar-playing sidekick, Theodore, are running from the law. And caught in the middle of all this is the orphaned Arvin who grows up to be a good but violent man in his own right. With his first novel, the Knockemstiff native braids his storylines into a taut, gothic narrative that proves he is a master storyteller in the grittiest and most uncompromising American grain. Books will be available for sale and signing at the event.