Heavy Metal

Winner of the 2016 Autumn House Fiction Prize, Andrew Bourelle��s debut novel, Heavy Metal, gives us a glimpse into the life of Danny, a teenager who seeks peace and stability after the death of his mother.

Set in 1980s Ohio, Danny is a sensitive teen struggling to find his place in the world. Guided by his older brother, Craig, Danny finds solace in heavy metal music and begins to make connections with a new group of friends and repair his relationship with his father. This sense of stability is disrupted when Craig makes an impulsive decision that changes everything for Danny's family and friends. A coming-of-age story for those looking The Outsiders set to the soundtrack of Metallica. 


Genre: Literary Fiction

"Andrew Bourelle's first novel grabs you by the throat from the first sentence and drags you deep into a vividly imagined world. The milieu is working class, 1980's hard-luck America, where Headbangers Ball is playing on MTV and the kids aren't all right at all. Heavy Metal is an intense, suspenseful, and moving novel that gives due respect to lives that are mostly ignored. Heavy, indeed—and unforgettable." - Dan Chaon

"Heavy Metal is a brilliant debut novel, at once an incisive, complex character study of damaged youth and a ferociously exciting page-turner. Andrew Bourelle knows that suspense is created not only by a loaded gun, but by the fears of the person holding it. He's written one of the best novels I've read in a long time." - Christopher Coake