What Dies in Summer

A Novel

By: Tom Wright

Narrated by: Chris Patton

A riveting Southern Gothic coming-of-age debut by a major new talent.

“I did what I did, and that’s on me.” From that tantalizing first sentence, Tom Wright sweeps listeners 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.

Tom Wright is a practicing psychologist and received his doctorate from Texas A&M University. What Dies in Summer is his first book.

©2012 Tom Wright (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic 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, New York Times best-selling author)

“A compulsive and provocative novel. Tom Wright manages to combine familiar themes of youth - fear, desire, vulnerability, and chaos - with a story that both unsettles and intrigues the reader. A narrative voice that’s raw and desperate, a story that grips from start to finish, What Dies in Summer is hugely impressive.” (John Boyne, New York Times best-selling author)

“A magnificent novel, not so much about loss of innocence as innocence put through the masher. The story pulsates with a deep dread that would be unbearable if the novel weren’t so sweet, funny, sexy, and ultimately moving.” (Nick Cave, author of The Death of Bunny Munro)

Odd Book, Great Narrator, Not as Grisly as Feared

The is not an easy book to describe. I suppose you could say that it is a coming of age story that also involves a police investigation into a series of killings. Because the victims were raped and mutilated I feared a lot of disturbing detail. We do get some information on the deaths, and a psychic flash here or there, but the book really does not dwell on the suffering and gory details as so often happens in books with serial killers (I try never to read those books). There is enough there to bother someone super sensitive I guess but I am pretty sensitive and found this book did not bother me. There are some other things that might bother some people. The book does have a certain atmosphere that might not appeal to everyone. You know when you are watching the news and they find the body of a young girl raped and murdered at a trailer park, and go on to report she lived with her exotic dancer mom and the mom's abusive alcoholic boyfriend and 5 sex offenders lived within 200 feet - and you just shake your head and think how this person was doomed from the get go? That is what the atmosphere of this book is like. Loads of family dysfunction, abuse and failure. I almost stopped reading very early in the book because the atmosphere was so unpleasant and made me uncomfortable but that feeling faded further on. It makes an amazing contrast that our narrator (Loved the narrator!) radiated such genuine goodness and innocence despite being raised in such an environment. In general I do not like books which are narrated from a teenage boy's point of view. But Biscuit was such a decent guy, that even when he had the sexual thoughts expected of a teenage boy it wasn't creepy. As some other reviews pointed out we certainly had a choice of suspects. One odd thing is in the book's usage of the paranormal element. Biscuit himself says he has "a touch of the sight but not enough to actually be useful" (or words to that effect). That is amazingly true. It seemed to me that there was not enough made of this paranormal element if the reader likes that element and too much made of it if the reader doesn't like it. There are also some chunks of the book where we seem to go off on tangents with certain characters who are peripheral to the main plot. I suppose these sequences make sense when viewing the story as a coming of age tale. I didn't love the book, but it did hold my attention and has stuck with me since I finished it. I also liked that we do get some wrap up on the various characters, though not everyone ends up exactly as I would have liked. Of course if they had that probably would have seemed strange in a book with so much dysfunction. Many characters are frustrating in how they don't necessarily create their own problems, but they do fail in stopping them from continuing. I don't think I would have liked the book nearly as much in print. Narrator certainly helps the reader feel connected to the story, and gives them someone to cheer for.

The characters

loved it all. The real characters that are unforgettable. The real setting was refreshing. I highly recommend this book to any reader and would lend itself to book reviews and discussion group.

What is this about??

Seldom do I not finish a book I start, but this book just jumps all over the place and has no sense of storyline. Is it meant for a hyperactive teenager?? I may go back to it and finish but I doubt I will.