Dry County

A Novel

by Jake Hinkson

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Pub Date Oct 01 2019 | Archive Date Sep 30 2019

Pegasus Books

General Fiction (Adult) | Mystery & Thrillers

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Description

Richard Weatherford is a successful small-town preacher in the Arkansas Ozarks. He’s a proud husband and father of five, and has worked hard to grow his loyal flock with strong sermons and smart community outreach. But while Weatherford is a man of influence and power—including a big force in local politics—he’s also a man with secrets. In the lead up to the 2016 presidential election, Weatherford’s world is threatened when he’s blackmailed by a former lover. Collecting the money the blackmailer demands will be a nearly impossible feat, especially over Easter weekend, when all eyes are on him. So Weatherford will have to turn to the darkest corners of their small town in a desperate attempt to keep his world from falling apart. Exploring a divided country and a cracked façade through the alternating perspectives of Weatherford, his wife, his lover, and other town residents, Dry County is a powerful story about how far some will go to keep hold of all they know—and all that others think them to be.

Richard Weatherford is a successful small-town preacher in the Arkansas Ozarks. He’s a proud husband and father of five, and has worked hard to grow his loyal flock with strong sermons and smart...

A Note From the Publisher

LibraryReads votes due by 9/1.

Advance Praise

“Desire, desperation, and despair collide in Jake Hinkson's bleakly imagined and perfectly rendered vision of small-town Arkansas. Religion, respectability, hope for the future—virtue is the flip side of vice and Hinkson drives that truth sharply home.” - S. J. Rozan, bestselling author of 'Ghost Hero'

“Dry County is a hillbilly noir jewel. Jake Hinkson reveals the underbelly of small town life in this gritty thriller as he depicts the fall of a Southern preacher. An absorbing tale.” - Nancy Allen, New York Times bestselling author

“Hinkson puts his foot on your throat on the first page and doesn’t let up. Dry County is the kind of book you sit down with and finish in one big gulp; it’s a masterpiece of economy and tension. Set against the backdrop of an Arkansas county’s wet/dry vote and the 2016 presidential election, this story’s got it all: blackmail, brutality, and desperate people doing desperate things. An instant noir classic.” - William Boyle, author of 'Gravesend,' 'The Lonely Witness,' and 'A Friend Is a Gift You Give Yourself'

“From its gripping first pages, the reader knows he or she is in the hands of an expert storyteller. Dry County is a dark, noir-ish tale that weaves religion, politics, family betrayals, and violence, all centered around the forgotten small towns of rural Arkansas. Jake Hinkson spins a story that just holds onto you and doesn’t let go. Highly recommended.” - Brendan DuBois, three-time Shamus Award winner and bestselling author

“A day in a small town with big secrets is the setting for this perfect storm of a book. Jake Hinkson takes the reader on a white-knuckle ride in a world where good people have done bad things. I couldn’t put it down.” - Aoife Clifford, author of 'All These Perfect Strangers' and 'Second Sight'

“Jake Hinkson’s Dry County breathlessly propels readers through the noir landscape of small-town Arkansas, laying bare its hypocrisies and baser impulses. Imagine Breaking Bad’s Walter White as the pastor of a Baptist Church; Hinkson’s Brother Weatherford’s fall is as far, as dark, and as deep.” - John Copenhaver, author of 'Dodging and Burning'