Résumé

Pete Dexters National Book Awardwinning tour de force tells the mesmerizing story of a shocking crime that shatters lives and exposes the hypocrisies of a small Southern town.
The time and place: Cotton Point, Georgia, just after World War II. The event: the murder of a fourteen-year-old black girl by a respected white citizen named Paris Trout, who feels hes done absolutely nothing wrong. As a trial looms, the crime eats away at the social fabric of Cotton Point, through its facade of manners and civility. Trouts indifference haunts his defense lawyer; his festering paranoia warps his timid, quiet wife; and Trout himself moves closer to madness as he becomes obsessed with his cause--and his vendettas.
Praise for Paris Trout A masterpiece, complex and breathtaking . . . [Pete] Dexter portrays his characters with marvelous sharpness.--Los Angeles Times A psychological spellbinder that will take your breath away and probably interfere with your sleep.--The Washington Post Book World Dexters brilliant understanding of the Deep South has allowed him to capture much of its essence--its bitter class distinctions, its violence, its strangeness--with a fidelity of detail and an ear for speech that I have rarely encountered since Flannery OConnor.--William Styron Dexters powerfully emotional novel doesnt have any brakes. Hang on, because you wont be able to stop until the finish.--Chicago Tribune