During the years of America’s Great Depression, a stricken father seeks out the hobo who killed his daughter. Soon, the search turns to sheer horror as the killer’s supernatural and truly evil nature is uncovered. Evocative, chilling and compelling, this tale of pursuit and revenge feels like John Steinbeck in Stephen King territory with its hypnotic evocation of the dust bowl environment in which the characters are immersed.
It is the time of the Great Depression. The dustbowl has turned the western skies red and thousands leave their homes seeking a better life. Marcus Connelly seeks not a new life, but a death - a death for the mysterious scarred man who murdered his daughter. And soon he learns that he is not alone. Countless others have lost someone to the scarred man. They band together to track him, but as they get closer, Connelly begins to suspect that the man they are hunting is more than human. As the pursuit becomes increasingly desperate, Connelly must decide just how much he is willing to sacrifice to get his revenge.
'After the brutal murder of his daughter, Marcus Connelly sets out across the blighted landscape of depression-era USA in search of her killer, a hobo known as Mr Shivers. Along the way he meets others who have suffered at the hands of Mr Shivers, migrant workers and destitute hobos, and comes to realise that the serial killer he is seeking might be more than a mere mortal. What begins as a revenge drama turns into something much more profound and disturbing, with the ravaged landscape of the depression mirroring the psyche of the novel's desperate cast of characters as they move towards a shocking climax. Mr Shivers is a startling debut, a deft amalgam of thriller, cerebral horror and American gothic, written with a stark and artful simplicity that complements the examination of struggling humanity pushed to its limits.' GUARDIAN
'A tale of quest anchored in dust-bowl desperation, MR SHIVERS creates a brutal new American mythology. Bennett weaves a modern combination of horror, historical fiction and high-fantasy' Scott Sigler, NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of CONTAGIOUS
Author
About Robert Jackson Bennett
Robert Jackson Bennett‘s 2010 debut Mr. Shivers won the Shirley Jackson award as well as the Sydney J Bounds Newcomer Award and his second novel, The Company Man, won a Special Citation of Excellence from the Philip K Dick Award, as well as an Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original. He lives in Austin with his wife and son.
