'Recalls only the finest examples of the form' Dennis Lehane

'The elegance Pizzolatto brings to his heart-wrenching story makes it unforgettable' Daily Mail

From the creator of the hit HBO series TRUE DETECTIVE comes a powerful, gleaming-dark thriller rich with Southern atmosphere.

Roy Cady is by his own admission 'a bad man'. With a snow flurry of cancer in his lungs and no one to live for, he's a walking time-bomb of violence. Following a fling with his boss's lover, he's sent on a routine assignment he knows is a death trap. Yet after a smoking spasm of violence, Roy's would-be killers are mostly dead and he is mostly alive.

Before Roy makes his getaway, he finds a beaten-up woman in the apartment, and sees something in her frightened, defiant eyes that causes a crucial decision. He takes her with him on the run from New Orleans to Galveston, Texas, permanently entwining their fate along a highway of seedy bars and fleabag hotels, a world of treacherous drifters, pick-up trucks, and ashed-out hopes, with death just a car-length behind.

Nic Pizzolatto's highly acclaimed, Edgar Award-nominated thriller announces the arrival of a major new talent for fans of Dennis Lehane, James Lee Burke and BREAKING BAD.

'A good old Southern gothic treat of a road trip through Texas and Louisiana. Think James Lee Burke meets MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL with shades of PARIS, TEXAS' - Sam Baker, The Pool

'Terrific dialogue' - Kirkus

'Pizzolatto's insightful portrayal is rough and tumble real. He vividly captures Galveston in all its desperate vulnerability' - Publishers Weekly

'A truly original and gifted writer' - Litro