An ex-convict returns to his Chicago community a changed manâbut maybe not for the betterâin this âvivid, suspenseful, funny, and compassionate novelâ (Booklist).
One of Booklistâs Top 10 First Novels of the Year
One of Roxane Gayâs Top 10 Books of the Year
After fourteen years in prison, Gerald âStew Potâ Reeves, age thirty-one, returns home to live with his mom in Parkland, a black middle-class neighborhood on Chicagoâs South Side. The residents are in a tailspin, dreading the arrival of the man they remember as a frightening delinquent. The anxiety only grows when Stew Pot announces that he experienced a religious awakening in prison.
Most folks are skeptical, with one notable exception: Mrs. Motley, a widowed retired librarian and the Reevesâ next-door neighbor, who loans Stew Pot a Bible, which is seen by him and many in the community as a friendly gesture. With uncompromising fervor (and with a new pit bull named John the Baptist), Stew Pot soon appoints himself the moral judge of Parklandâand starts wreaking havoc on peopleâs lives. Before long, tension and suspicion reign, and this close-knit community must reckon with questions of faith, fear, and forgiveness . . .
â[A] novel of epiphanies, tragedies, and transformations . . . perfect for book clubs.â âBooklist, starred review
âMay slowly builds suspense as he persuasively unfolds the narrative in this work that reads like an Agatha Christie mystery.â âLibrary Journal
âA wonderful urban novel full of vitality and pathos and grit.â âDennis Lehane