Paris Trout (Contemporary American Fiction)

Pete Dexter s National Book Award winning tour de force tells the mesmerizing story of a shocking crime that shatters lives and exposes the hypocrisies of a small Southern town.
The time and place: Cotton Point, Georgia, just after World War II. The event: the murder of a fourteen-year-old black girl by a respected white citizen named Paris Trout, who feels he s done absolutely nothing wrong. As a trial looms, the crime eats away at the social fabric of Cotton Point, through its facade of manners and civility. Trout s indifference haunts his defense lawyer; his festering paranoia warps his timid, quiet wife; and Trout himself moves closer to madness as he becomes obsessed with his cause and his vendettas.
Praise for "Paris Trout"
""
A masterpiece, complex and breathtaking . . . [Pete] Dexter portrays his characters with marvelous sharpness. "Los Angeles Times"
A psychological spellbinder that will take your breath away and probably interfere with your sleep. "The Washington Post Book World"
Dexter s brilliant understanding of the Deep South has allowed him to capture much of its essence its bitter class distinctions, its violence, its strangeness with a fidelity of detail and an ear for speech that I have rarely encountered since Flannery O Connor. William Styron
Dexter s powerfully emotional novel doesn t have any brakes. Hang on, because you won t be able to stop until the finish. "Chicago Tribune""