'Thrums with authenticity' The Times

'Powerful, bruising and beautiful' Chris Whitaker

A bleak, brilliant slice of American noir' Daily Mail

The latest novel from the CWA-shortlisted author of Three-Fifths – a Sunday Times, Guardian and Financial Times Book of the Year

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IT'S NOT A COMEBACK. IT'S A FIGHT FOR HIS LIFE.

Xavier "Scarecrow" Wallace is a biracial Black MMA fighter on the wrong side of thirty, who's been given a last-ditch chance to break into the big leagues. He is also losing his battle with pugilistic dementia, a struggle he is desperate to hide.

In the nursing home of his father, a white man suffering from Alzheimer's, Xavier witnesses shocking episodes that expose ugly truths about his family and his past.

As the big fight draws near, Xavier is faced with a dangerous dilemma: throw his match or suffer the deadly consequences.

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FURTHER PRAISE FOR JOHN VERCHER

'John Vercher could well be the next great American novelist' Kia Abdullah

'Shrewd and explosive' New York Times

'Vercher writes with the intensity of championship round' Kevin Powers, author of The Yellow Birds

'A stunning, stone-cold knockout' P. J. Vernon, author of Bath Haus

'Think Warrior by way of Fat City' William Boyle, author of Shoot the Moonlight Out

'John Vercher writes like a fighter, a dancer, an athlete' Wiley Cash, author of A Land More Kind than Home