The Paperboy

Description

The sun is rising over Moat County, Florida, when Sheriff Thurmond Call is found on the highway, gutted like an alligator. A local redneck is tried, sentenced, and set to fry. Then Ward James, hotshot investigative reporter for the Miami Times, returns to his rural hometown with a death row femme fatale who promises him the story of the decade. She's armed with explosive evidence, aiming to free - and meet - her convicted 'fiance'. With Ward's disillusioned younger brother Jack as their driver, they barrel down Florida's back roads and seamy places in search of The Story, racing flat out into a shocking head-on collision between character and fate as truth takes a back seat to headline news.

Reviews

'An eerie and beautiful novel ... Its secrets continue to reveal themselves long after the book has been finished.' - The New York Times Book Review 'Dexter is a writer who cuts to the bone. There is not a spare word in this searing tale... A bravura performance by one of America's most original and elegiac voices.' - People 'Hip, hard-boiled and filled with memorable eccentrics ... The Paperboy burns with the phosphorescent atmosphere of betrayal.' - Time 'A wise and fascinating tale well told.' - Entertainment Weekly

Author description

Pete Dexter won the US National Book Award for Fiction for Paris Trout, two Penn West Awards for Best Novel of the Year (Paris Trout and The Paperboy), and the Los Angeles Times prize for Best Novel for Train. His most recent novel, Spooner (Atlantic Books), was published to critical acclaim in 2009.