A Prayer for the Dying

New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year“A new masterpiece of American literature.” ―Dennis Lehane Entertainment Weekly“A Prayer for the Dying reads like the amazing unrelenting love child of Shirley Jackson and Cormac McCarthy. It’s twisted proof that God will do worse to test a faithful man than the devil would ever do to punish a sinner.” ―Chuck PalahniukSet in Friendship Wisconsin just after the Civil War A Prayer for the Dying tells of a horrible epidemic that is suddenly and gruesomely killing the town''s residents and setting off a terrifying paranoia. Jacob Hansen Friendship''s sheriff undertaker and pastor is soon overwhelmed by the fear and anguish around him and his sanity begins to fray. Dark poetic and chilling Stewart O''Nan''s A Prayer for the Dying examines the effect of madness and violence on the morality of a once-decent man.