Book Summary and Reviews of We Will See You Bleed by Ron Currie

We Will See You Bleed by Ron Currie

We Will See You Bleed

by Ron Currie

  • Critics' Consensus (4):
  • Published:
  • Jul 2026, 384 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

It's late summer 1984, and Babs Dionne's hometown of Waterville, Maine is on the verge of collapse.

A strike at the paper mill has dragged on for a year, pitting neighbor against neighbor, leaving everyone broke and exhausted.

As head of the union local, Babs has presided over Little Canada's decline. She's sworn off violence since killing a man when she was a teenager, and has stuck to this vow even as it's become clear that only violence can save their community. When Babs' best friend Rita returns home after five years away, she is shocked by the state of things. And as the strike comes to a head, Rita notices something else: the men may be broken, but the women are furious, ready to do whatever necessary to take back Little Canada.

They just need Babs to be the fearless woman who emerged from the woods fifteen years ago, drenched in blood. They need Babs to face what she already knows: that the only way to fix things is to assume control. Completely. Mercilessly.

Poignant, unflinching, and brimming with sharp humor, We Will See You Bleed is a triumphant second installment in this electrifying crime thriller series by award-winning author Ron Currie.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"[A] sterling prequel to The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne...With muscular prose and palpable empathy, Currie deepens his already epic crime series. It's a winner." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"[M]uch like The Godfather, the novel serves as allegory for a crumbling American infrastructure where citizens are victimized by rapacious capitalism...Currie's passion for the underclass is clear, and Babs' role as their Robin Hood–ish benefactor makes her an appealing antihero. A dark and lively modern-day outlaw tale." —Kirkus Reviews

"We Will See You Bleed is a thriller in the best sense. You can't put the damn thing down, and the story of these down-and-outs fighting the powers that be will stay with you a long time. Solid-gold guarantee." —Stephen King

This information about We Will See You Bleed was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

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Author Information

Ron Currie

Ron Currie is the award-winning author of five novels. He has won the New York Public Library's Young Lions Award, the Addison M. Metcalf Award, the Alex Award, and the Pushcart Prize. His books have been translated into fifteen languages, and his short fiction and nonfiction have received recognition in Best American anthologies. He lives in Portland, Maine, and teaches in the University of Southern Maine Stonecoast MFA program.

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