Hawk Mountain made my blood run cold. I constantly felt on edge and confused, much like our protagonist. The layers of homophobia, abuse, love, fear, etc added such a fantastic depth. Easily one of my favorite books I’ve read this year.

This was a very dark and at time gory book, really not for the faint of heart, but it was written very well and I enjoyed it. Todd is at the beach with his son Anthony when a stranger walks up to him and starts talking, Todd realizes he is talking to the boy who had bullied him through high school, Jack. Jack has left his wife and is desperate for a place to stay for the night. Todd obliges, a night turns into a week, and Jack is hinting about staying longer. Todd then does something unexpected, at least for me it was. There are flashbacks to high school when Todd is being bullied, Jack ends up turning most of the school against Todd including a girl he thought was his friend. Back in the present Jack ends up becoming quite close to Anthony and says things to Todd's wife (who had left a number of years ago and moved abroad, and now wants back in Anthony's life) that has her believing that Todd and Jack are intimate. This rumor also seeps into his work life, he's a teacher at a school and has just started dating another teacher from Anthony's school. Todd quickly finds his life spiraling out of control. An interesting study on what desperate people will do when pushed to the limit. I would recommend though with the caution that some parts are a tad gory. Thanks to #Netgalley and #WW Norton for the ARC.

I was not prepared for the ride this book took me on. Gory? Hell yes…….but oh so good. Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the complimentary copy.

Themes of parenthood, sexuality, reality and bullying make this a must read for anyone interested in queerness in literary fiction or thrillers. Gross and icky in the best way. A fantastic debut filled with queer creep. Definitely not for the faint of heart.

“The thing about faces, he's saying, is they're always a lie. Even before they're slathered in makeup. Faces make us
different from each other And we're not- not really. We try so goddamn hard all the time to be different, to be unique. You know what we all just really are? When you strip away the dumb expressions we all practice to try to look a certain way?
Meat.”

Genuine emoji reactions of me reading Hawk Mountain:
😬 😬 😅 😬 😬 😬 😬 😥

What would you do if you came face to face with your high school bully 15 years later?

While on the beach with his son Anthony, Todd sees an outline of a man approach. To his surprise and dismay it’s Jack, the man who made his last year of high school a living hell.

Jack is seemingly unaware of the impact he had on Todd, and demands they grab a bite and a drink to catch up. But a drink turns into him crashing on their couch to integrating himself into Todd and Anthony’s life. And now that Jack’s here it’s impossible to get him to leave.

This book was so fucking tense, every interaction through the dual timelines of Todd and Jack’s history had my guts roiling and jaw clenching. I’m remiss to say too much because there’s a moment where the story hits a switch, and I honestly could not put it down. Really, I read this in one day.

If you want a thriller with a big heaping pile of gory horror this is for you. I told you this book has an all-timer tone shift. This book gets GROSS.

I want everyone to read this, because I NEED TO TALK ABOUT IT.

Thank you to NetGalley and WW Norton for an ARC of this book.

This book is INSANE.

I don't even know how to really talk about it. It's mind blowing and thought provoking and just so god damn good. I think it's going to be on so, SO many best sellers lists.

Conner Habib is a natural writer and talent and everyone should WATCH their BACK.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This was a five-star debut read. I love literary fiction that is also secretly horror, when that isn't how it's billed. (Mexican Gothic, A Touch of Jen, The Paper Wasp). This one had these great facets of body horror that came on all at once in the middle. This is a fun book to booktalk (I've done this at least five times already), because the beginning frames such a menacing story, and the creepiness and menace don't stop there. You get a real Ripley vibe. I have felt the need to "warn" people that there is a horror element because that is not how this book is billed, and not everyone likes that. The overall story is really more of a literary thriller. I loved how the author worked the narrative as the main character began to spin out of control -- the memories section started to sort of bleed into the present day narrative, so they became one. There was a great buildup to the story of Jack and Todd in high school, and I truly did not guess how that piece would resolve. But, it was perfect. Five stars. Thank you so much!!!

An amazing novel! Dark, beautiful, covertly erotic. A story of struggle, yearning, and the kinds of wounds inflicted and sustained by individuals who have been taught a grievously contorted version of love.

I came away from this story feeling like I had "comprehended some kind of truth," to borrow words from Clive Barker's review (see below), a truth hard to articulate, but something like this: that every gesture enacted into the world–thought or deed, loving or violent–will reverberate endlessly through nature, leaving nothing unchanged. A poem that appears in the epigraph and throughout the novel tells us, "there will be no resurrection." Well, we should be so lucky. But after finishing the book, I'm not sure I agree.

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For a really excellent review of this novel's aesthetic and literary merits, look no further than Clive Barker's:

“Conner Habib's debut novel is a bleak, dark adrenaline rush. To tell a story as rich and resonant as Conner Habib’s HAWK MOUNTAIN, and achieve it with such structural simplicity is no small achievement. The book has you in its arms in a heartbeat, and never lets you slip. The chapters are short and muscular: the dialogue spare, the descriptive passages lingering not a syllable beyond their function. Scoured of comfort, the novel neither prettifies or demeans. It simply tells its truths. Yet as the narrative gains momentum, its profundity comes clear. We have been drawn into an emotional maze which will defy the comfort of resolution all the way to its last exchange. Out of the defiantly plain way in which the story advances, a rare beauty is born, bringing us to the book’s close all the more persuaded that we’ve comprehended some kind of truth because the teller of the tale has no tricks up his sleeve, only the wise, sad certainty of what living has shown him, which here he shares.”

Hawk Mountain relates the story of Todd Nasca, a divorced man living with his six year old son in New England. Jack, who bullied him in high school, “accidentally” finds Todd, and begins to invade his life, acting like nothing ever happened. Then everything deteriorates after a shocking incident.

I really wanted to like this book. The premise was intriguing, and the writing well done in parts, but the mental landscapes of the main characters, while well drawn at times, were unevenly portrayed. The effect of all the events on Todd’s young son were not convincing to me. The secondary characters were unrealistic. For me, the structure of the book was off putting, and I found myself just wanting to finish the book and get it over with.

I do appreciate the author’s attempt at exploring the long term effects of bullying and homophobia.

My thanks to the publisher and to Netgalley for providing an ARC of the book.

The premise of this book really intrigued me. A man running into his high school bully years later and having to deal with the tense situations that come up sounded interesting. Especially since the synopsis mentions manipulation, murder, and the story being fast-paced. However I unfortunately found this story to be incredibly underwhelming.

The book begins in a dual timeline format switching between when Todd and Jack are in high school and when they run into each other as adults. Something about the way it was written kept me from truly getting invested with the characters or what was happening to them. I felt like I wasn't learning enough about who they were as people. Also, I would say that apart from a few moments there isn’t anything remotely fast-paced about the story until almost halfway through the book.

I do think the book has some thought provoking aspects, such as the long lasting impact of bullying and homophobia. But I just wanted a bit more from the characters themselves. There were some fascinating parts of the plot, but I wanted more development so I could feel like I truly understood why the characters were doing certain things. There were some shocking and suspenseful moments that I think were executed well, but the book as a whole didn't quite work for me.

William Faulkner's famous line, "The past is never dead. It's not even past," would be an apt epigram for Conner Habib’s novel. His protagonist, Todd Nasca, may have successfully repressed his haunting past, but the return of a former high school bully reawakens old obsessions. With this bleak and unsettling psychological thriller, Habib examines the stubbornness of complex human relationships and the suppression of personal identity.

Todd is a 33-year-old high school English teacher, who is divorced and estranged from his former wife. He is raising his 6-year-old son, Anthony, in a quaint coastal New England town when a former classmate, Jack Gates, mysteriously shows up. Whether the charismatic Gates’ appearance was really coincidental or planned is never clear. Likewise, his motives are obscure. Jack’s presence raises memories of the brutal bullying he led against Todd in high school. It also raises the specter of homoerotic feelings that Todd has long suppressed. Habib uses this relationship to explore complexities in human interaction, including bonding, manipulation, control, revenge, and forgiveness while maintaining a tight focus on Todd’s struggle with his homosexual urges. The latter leads to a violent incident and its subsequent coverup.

Habib repeatedly raises the issue of Todd’s repressed homophobia with imagery ranging from the subtle to the overt. Todd’s ex-wife, Livia, becomes convinced that he and Jack are a couple following a phone conversation with Jack. Todd precipitates a haunting recreation of his own high school homophobic bullying experience using one of his own male students. Todd witnesses a homosexual act by one of his colleagues and is confronted about his attitude toward this person by his principal. In a more subtle vein, Habib also has Todd assign multiple readings to his students with themes of male bonding and camaraderie.

Habib deftly uses flashbacks to explain Todd’s motivations and to build tension. However, his narrative is flawed by multiple murky issues. Todd’s actions are not always clear or reasonable. Is he truly mad, or just obsessed with secrecy? What does Anthony see and understand from what he may have witnessed? What happens to Anthony? How are we to understand Livia’s scattered behavior? And of course, is Todd a closeted gay man?

Hawk Mountain is the fiction debut of multi-hyphenate entertainer Conner Habib. The novel follows Todd Nasca, a single father and respected member of his community, who struggles to maintain his sanity upon the return of his childhood bully.

Hawk Mountain strikes the balance between twisty readability and quality writing that so many modern thrillers lack. It was reminiscent of Patricia Highsmith - Todd fits right into her cadre of repressed male protagonists driven to violence - only evolved to accommodate modern readers . Highsmith was a Queer writer forced to censor her novels. She (mostly) kept the sexual identities of her characters buried in allusions. Habib has no such constraints and crafts a fascinating thriller by exploring the damage repression creates.

(to be posted June 30th on Instagram)

Hawk Mountain starts completely unassumingly and builds, builds, builds, from dread into white-knuckled, wide-eyed terror, and burns away into an ending that I'm still thinking about.

No matter how uncomfortable this book made me feel, it was difficult to stop reading. Hawk Mountain is a story of secrets and lies, masculinity and torment. Things take a turn for the worse for Todd, a single father, when his high school bully, abruptly comes back into his life. Jack forces himself into Todd's life, stays at Todd's place, creates a father-like relationship with Anthony, Todd's son. We watch a brutal unraveling as Todd tries to escape his past and the feelings that come with it.

I'm having a very hard time finding anything worthwhile about this book. The writing itself is well done, but I had the hardest time caring about the characters. This may be an Andy thing as I am finding myself asking with more regularity, "why should I care about any of this?" when it comes to these types of storylines because honestly, I don't. I feel empathy for any kid who is bullied and may be questioning themselves and who they are deep down, but that only extends so far. I read so many reviews that said Hawk Mountain was amazing and picked up and was a couldn't put down the book, and I just found myself thinking, "meh. Who caress?" Anyway, I can't say that this book is less than 3 stars, because I know how hard it has to be to publish a book, but man, this was not the best read of the year for by a longshot.

This story will keep you on the edge of your seat. Talk about a page-turner!! Good luck being able to put this one down once you start it! Can't wait to read more by Conner Habib!

This book was brilliant. Deals with a lot of harsh emotions. If you have ever dealt with a bully, this books is for you.

4.5 stars
Living your life numb and grudged.

This was brilliant. Conner Habib knocked it out of the park with this debut! I was engaged from the start. This book touches on topics of bullying, abuse, mental health, sexual identity, manipulation, and grief. Mainly focusing on the effects of what constant harassment and neglect can build within a person.

This story follows Todd and his son, Anthony, in the aftereffects of moving back to Todd's hometown to start over and get back to living, many years after his divorce from Livia who walked out on a life with him and her child. When someone from Todd's high school days, Jack, comes barreling back into his life. Piece by piece the suppressed anger and mask slowly chip away. Livia comes knocking—decided she finally wants a relationship with Anthony. Stress, grudges, and accusations cause turmoil and a crack in Todd's state of mind. Will everything he does finally give him ease?

HAWK MOUNTAIN-Conner Habib
The positives-well written, timely topic re: sexual identity, demonstrative how events in early life ( school, parental upbringing) can have long standing repercussions. Having said that, I think this was one of the most dark and disturbing books I’ve read in quite some time. A book centered around 3 major characters (Todd, Jack, Anthony) all of whom suffer lifelong disastrous psychological consequences and in one case ( Jack) a physical one.It was a book I wanted to, but couldn’t stop reading.
It won’t be for everyone-am anxious to see reviews when published.

This book was sent to me for review electronically from Netgalley...Bullies...family...friends...enemies...the past...the present...mystery and intrigue abound in this book. It was not one of my favorites, but others might really enjoy the bully from the past meeting in the present.