About the Author

John Vercher is a writer on race, identity and social justice currently living in the Philadelphia area with his wife and two sons. He holds a BA in English from the University of Pittsburgh and an MFA in Creative Writing from the Mountainview Master of Fine Arts program. His debut novel, Three-Fifths was shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Award and was a Sunday Times, Guardian and Financial Times Book of the Year.

Reviews

'John Vercher writes like a fighter, a dancer, an athlete... Here is a novelist at the height of his power.' - Wiley Cash, author of A Land More Kind than Home

'Powerful, bruising and beautiful, After The Lights Go Out is a blistering story of love and loyalty, family, class and belonging. Those who haven't discovered John Vercher yet are seriously missing out. Outstanding.' - Chris Whitaker

'[A] stunning, stone-cold knockout... Brutally elegant prose, jet fuel-like propulsiveness' - P. J. Vernon, author of Bath Haus

'John Vercher's latest is a spellbinding tour de force... I loved every moment of it, even the ones that broke my heart' - Lauren Wilkinson, author of American Spy

'Shrewd and explosive' - New York Times
'Riveting' - NPR's Fresh Air


'Left me breathless. A riveting portrait of masculinity, vulnerability and alienation, it couples propulsive action with an aching tenderness. So exquisite is the result, I would go as far as to say that John Vercher could well be the next Great American Novelist.' - Kia Abdullah


'Troubling, powerful, and ultimately, surprisingly, poignant.' Ben H. Winters, author of The Last Policeman


'[A] gripping, tragic tale... deftly guiding the reader through the MMA world, the nuances of mixed-race identity, and the questionable allegiances that form when the world forces people to prove their own humanity' - Chris L Terry, author of Black Card

**Praise for Three-Fifths**

'Vercher's searing first novel is set 25 years ago, but its subject couldn't be more timely... this mesmerising debut doesn't shy away' - Sunday Times Crime Book of the Month

'John Vercher has such love and compassion for his characters in Three-Fifths that I couldn't help but be sucked into their lives from the very first pages. It's so incredibly suspenseful that I was continually surprised by the story and deeply moved by the time I turned the last page' - Attica Locke

'John Vercher takes a timely, yet tragically timeless, cautionary tale and turns it into something so heartfelt, so frightening and dazzling that it sits easily alongside the best crime fiction novels I've read this year. Brutal and powerful, I adored it' - Chris Whitaker

'Shot, lucid and harrowing' - Observer, Thrillers of the Month