RUSS COOPER thinks he's hit bottom until he witnesses a random murder in the alley outside his bathroom window. This event triggers a chain of incidents including a squalid mission through the heart of Valley View trailer park, a journey inside one of the country's last video stores, and a crusade to save an immigrant family from the outlandish obstacles invented by the minds of diehard fanatics. With the help of his bumbling but beloved best friend, Richie, Russ sets out on an expedition across the imaginary small town of Wellton in search of a murderer, a homeland worth fighting for and a job worth caring about in the midst of a new and absurd American ethos. The barriers, as Russ and Riche discover, are more than just awkward church ladies, crooked cops, slippery bosses and their own neuroses, but readers won't mind and in fact, will relish the peculiar diversions along the way.

A stirring, heartwarming yarn about small-town misfits finding their people and purpose. Wellton County has arrived on the map, and I can't wait to go back.

- Chris L. Terry, author of Zero Fade and Black Card