Scott Blackburn's searing literary debut explores the dangerous world of secrets threatening to upend a rural Southern town, perfect for fans of David Joy and Joe R. Lansdale.
For nearly a decade, twenty-nine-year-old Hudson Miller has made his living in the boxing ring, but a post-fight brawl threatens to derail his career. Desperate for money, Hudson takes a gig as a bouncer at a dive bar. That's when life delivers him another hook to the jaw: his estranged father, Leland, has been murdered in what appears to be a robbery-gone-bad at his salvage yard, Miller's Pull-a-Part.
Soon after his father's funeral, Hudson learns he's inherited the salvage yard, and he returns to his Bible-belt hometown of Flint Creek, North Carolina, to run the business. But the business is far more than junk cars and scrap metal. It was the site of an illegal gun-running ring. And the secrets don't end there; a grisly discovery is made at the yard that thrusts Hudson into the fight of his life.
Reeling for answers, Hudson joins forces with his father's former employee, 71-year-old, beer-guzzling Vietnam vet Charlie Shoaf, and a feisty teenage girl, Lucy Reyes, who's fiercely seeking justice for her own family tragedy. With a murderer on the loose and no answers from the local cops, the trio of outcasts launch an investigation. The shocking truth they uncover will shake Flint Creek to its very core.
Genre: Mystery
For nearly a decade, twenty-nine-year-old Hudson Miller has made his living in the boxing ring, but a post-fight brawl threatens to derail his career. Desperate for money, Hudson takes a gig as a bouncer at a dive bar. That's when life delivers him another hook to the jaw: his estranged father, Leland, has been murdered in what appears to be a robbery-gone-bad at his salvage yard, Miller's Pull-a-Part.
Soon after his father's funeral, Hudson learns he's inherited the salvage yard, and he returns to his Bible-belt hometown of Flint Creek, North Carolina, to run the business. But the business is far more than junk cars and scrap metal. It was the site of an illegal gun-running ring. And the secrets don't end there; a grisly discovery is made at the yard that thrusts Hudson into the fight of his life.
Reeling for answers, Hudson joins forces with his father's former employee, 71-year-old, beer-guzzling Vietnam vet Charlie Shoaf, and a feisty teenage girl, Lucy Reyes, who's fiercely seeking justice for her own family tragedy. With a murderer on the loose and no answers from the local cops, the trio of outcasts launch an investigation. The shocking truth they uncover will shake Flint Creek to its very core.
Genre: Mystery
Praise for this book
"Scott Blackburn's It Dies with You is a stunner. It hits hard right out of the gate and burns with that same intensity all the way through. Crackling prose, great characters, and a killer sense of place. Blackburn's written a gritty tale full of heart." - William Boyle
"This is a great novel about bad decisions and second chances. Scott Blackburn has a burner of a book on his hands. He's a crime writer whose name you need to remember, and if you read It Dies with You I can guarantee you won't forget it. Fans of Michael Farris Smith, David Joy, Daniel Woodrell, and Chris Offutt, this is the new writer you've been waiting for." - Wiley Cash
"Scott Blackburn wields prose like a scalpel, using it to peel apart a small Southern town with surgical precision. Gun-running, fisticuffs, murder--this debut novel has it all. Blackburn bobs and weaves between humor and heartbreak with a sure-footed confidence that will make Joe Lansdale green with envy. Equal parts laugh-out-loud funny and gut-wrenching, It Dies with You will live on in readers' imaginations long after the last page." - J G Hetherton
"It Dies with You is a novel with a plot that keeps the pages turning. It's a whodunnit with grit and heart. I wanted to stay with these characters after the final page, because even when faced with tremendous loss, they fight for what might not be in their best interests, but for what is right. In a cluttered market of antihero protagonists with no redeeming qualities, Hudson is a man I see myself in, and root for. Blackburn's debut is a must read. It's sentimental, absorbing, and fun as Hell." - David Moloney
"Blackburn writes with the same ferocity as Hammett and James M. Cain and It Dies With You is a heavyweight gut punch of hardboiled badassery. This book will leave you with bloody knuckles." - Brian Panowich
"Scott Blackburn's debut novel is a brutal, heartfelt story rooted deep in the rural South, told with an arresting new voice. Blackburn announces his arrival on the literary stage with a strong, right cross, straight to the jaw. Imagine if Ron Rash, David Joy, and Wiley Cash all stepped into a steel cage match and bled all over the page." - Eryk Pruitt
"Desperate people, in a hardworn landscape, with the smoke of emotional fires filling the Southern sky, that's what you'll get when you settle in with It Dies With You. Scott Blackburn pushes his characters to the extreme, while offering them grace and humility, the careful touch of a careful writer not afraid to go for the knockout." - Michael Farris Smith
"Scott Blackburn's It Dies With You is a southpaw of a thriller that starts with a slow burn, stuns with a one-two punch of family drama and murder, lands a hook into small-town politics, and closes with an uppercut of an ending. With the most unusual sidekicks this side of a Stephen King novel, ex-boxer Hudson Miller must deal with the legacies left by his father's death--if he survives. As a writer of Southern rural noir, Blackburn is one to watch." - Christopher Swann
"It Dies With You is a satisfying gut-punch of a story. Gritty and surprising, the small-town Southern mystery is populated with big characters that make this novel truly special. I was rooting for Hudson Miller, the disgraced former prizefighter turned dive bar bouncer, from page one, and I still want to buy Charlie Shoaf a beer or six. Lucy Reyes is an absolute teenage badass. I'd happily spend more time in this world. I can't wait to read whatever Scott Blackburn writes next." - Tiffany Quay Tyson
"This is a great novel about bad decisions and second chances. Scott Blackburn has a burner of a book on his hands. He's a crime writer whose name you need to remember, and if you read It Dies with You I can guarantee you won't forget it. Fans of Michael Farris Smith, David Joy, Daniel Woodrell, and Chris Offutt, this is the new writer you've been waiting for." - Wiley Cash
"Scott Blackburn wields prose like a scalpel, using it to peel apart a small Southern town with surgical precision. Gun-running, fisticuffs, murder--this debut novel has it all. Blackburn bobs and weaves between humor and heartbreak with a sure-footed confidence that will make Joe Lansdale green with envy. Equal parts laugh-out-loud funny and gut-wrenching, It Dies with You will live on in readers' imaginations long after the last page." - J G Hetherton
"It Dies with You is a novel with a plot that keeps the pages turning. It's a whodunnit with grit and heart. I wanted to stay with these characters after the final page, because even when faced with tremendous loss, they fight for what might not be in their best interests, but for what is right. In a cluttered market of antihero protagonists with no redeeming qualities, Hudson is a man I see myself in, and root for. Blackburn's debut is a must read. It's sentimental, absorbing, and fun as Hell." - David Moloney
"Blackburn writes with the same ferocity as Hammett and James M. Cain and It Dies With You is a heavyweight gut punch of hardboiled badassery. This book will leave you with bloody knuckles." - Brian Panowich
"Scott Blackburn's debut novel is a brutal, heartfelt story rooted deep in the rural South, told with an arresting new voice. Blackburn announces his arrival on the literary stage with a strong, right cross, straight to the jaw. Imagine if Ron Rash, David Joy, and Wiley Cash all stepped into a steel cage match and bled all over the page." - Eryk Pruitt
"Desperate people, in a hardworn landscape, with the smoke of emotional fires filling the Southern sky, that's what you'll get when you settle in with It Dies With You. Scott Blackburn pushes his characters to the extreme, while offering them grace and humility, the careful touch of a careful writer not afraid to go for the knockout." - Michael Farris Smith
"Scott Blackburn's It Dies With You is a southpaw of a thriller that starts with a slow burn, stuns with a one-two punch of family drama and murder, lands a hook into small-town politics, and closes with an uppercut of an ending. With the most unusual sidekicks this side of a Stephen King novel, ex-boxer Hudson Miller must deal with the legacies left by his father's death--if he survives. As a writer of Southern rural noir, Blackburn is one to watch." - Christopher Swann
"It Dies With You is a satisfying gut-punch of a story. Gritty and surprising, the small-town Southern mystery is populated with big characters that make this novel truly special. I was rooting for Hudson Miller, the disgraced former prizefighter turned dive bar bouncer, from page one, and I still want to buy Charlie Shoaf a beer or six. Lucy Reyes is an absolute teenage badass. I'd happily spend more time in this world. I can't wait to read whatever Scott Blackburn writes next." - Tiffany Quay Tyson
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