Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Jun 2012
288 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
"I did what I did, and that's on me." From that tantalizing first sentence, Tom Wright sweeps us up in a tale of lost innocence. Jim has a touch of the Sight. It's nothing too spooky and generally useless, at least until the summer his cousin L.A. moves in with him and their grandmother. When Jim and L.A. discover the body of a girl, brutally raped and murdered in a field, an investigation begins that will put both their lives in danger.
In the spirit of The Lovely Bones and The Little Friend, What Dies in Summer is a novel that casts its spell on the very first page and leaves an indelible mark.
"Starred Review. [A] story that delivers on several levels. The author's impressive, multi-tiered storytelling talents are on brilliant display in this entrancing, impressive debut." - Publishers Weekly
"Starred Review. Even with its hints of southern gothic and mysticism, this coming-of-age novel keeps its solidly quotidian background. An unusually accomplished and evocative debut, in which what dies is innocence." - Booklist
"A lyrical and realistic study of innocence lost." - Kirkus Reviews
"A beautifully written and deeply engaging study of loss and innocence, suffused with chilling dread. A haunting novel, a captivating debut; I loved it." - S.J. Watson, author of Before I Go to Sleep
This information about What Dies in Summer 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.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Tom Wright is a practicing psychologist and received his doctorate from Texas A&M University. This is his first book. He lives in Texarkana, Texas.
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