About the Author

George Dawes Green is a highly acclaimed novelist and poet. He currently divides his time between Georgia and New York.

Reviews

Soon after Mitch and Patsy Boatwright, two down-home one-step-above-poor-white Georgians, win the $318 million Max-a-Million jackpot in this stellar thriller from bestseller Green (The Juror), they receive two unwelcome visitors-Shaw McBride and Romeo Zderko, who are fleeing nowhere techie jobs in Ohio for a never-never Florida dream. Shaw, the brains, and Romeo, his half-unwilling brawny pawn, threaten to kill the Boatwrights' loved ones unless the couple agree to hand over half their winnings. Through rapidly shifting points of view, especially the clear eyes of daughter Tara Boatwright, a community college student, Green frighteningly and unequivocally shows how victims can come to adore their tormentors, amid a mix of madness, fear, isolation, greed and delusions of power and glory. This exquisite novel of psychological suspense builds to a devastating resolution that will leave readers with the cold shudders for a long time afterward. (July) Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.

The Boatwright family has just won $318 million in the Georgia State Lottery when two grifters concoct a plan to steal half the money. Edgar Award-winning author Green, whose last novel was The Juror (1995), adeptly characterizes this chilling story, conveying the physical and emotional strains for everyone involved. Narrators Maggi-Meg Reed (The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette) and Robert Petkoff (Beat the Reaper) read with accents and voices perfectly suited to their respective characters. This book will appeal to lovers of suspense; the large amount of profanity, however, makes it inappropriate for younger listeners. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 3/15/09.-Ed.]-Joanna M. Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Libs., Providence Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.