A debut collection of terrifying, darkly funny stories concerning the drug-addled, beaten-down inhabitants of a southern Ohio holler called Knockemstiff.
Donald Ray Pollock presents his characters and the sordid goings-on with a stern intelligence, a bracing absence of value judgments, and a refreshingly dark sense of bottom-dog humor..
A psychotic rural recluse comes upon two siblings committing incest and feels compelled to take action.
A father pumps his son full of steroids so he can vicariously relive his days as a perpetual runner-up body builder.
Spanning a period from the mid-sixties to the late nineties, the linked stories that comprise Knockemstiff feature a cast of recurring characters who are irresistibly, undeniably real.
Knockemstiff is a genuine entry into the literature of place. --Chuck Palahniuk An unforgettable work of fiction that peers into the soul of a tough Midwestern American town to reveal the sad, stunted but resilient lives of its residents.
More engaging than any new fiction in years.
Pollock grabs by the throat and doesn\'t let go--Kirkus. . . .
A debut collection of terrifying, darkly funny stories concerning the drug-addled, beaten-down inhabitants of a southern Ohio holler called Knockemstiff
