East of Denver

<p><strong>Winner of the Colorado Book Award for Literary Fiction</strong></p><p><strong>Winner of the [Evil Retailer] Breakthrough Novel Award</strong></p><p>When Shakespeare Williams returns to his family's farm in eastern Colorado to bury his dead cat he finds his widowed and senile father Emmett living in squalor. He has no money the land is fallow and a local banker has cheated his father out of the majority of the farm equipment and his beloved Cessna.</p><p>With no job and no prospects Shakespeare suddenly finds himself caretaker to both his dad and the farm and drawn into an unlikely clique of old high school classmates: Vaughn Atkins a paraplegic confined to his mother's basement Carissa McPhail an overweight bank teller who pitches for the local softball team and longtime bully D.J. Beckman who now deals drugs throughout small-town Dorsey. Facing the loss of the farm Shakespeare hatches a half-serious plot with his father and his fellow gang of misfits to rob the very bank that has stolen their future.</p><p></p><p><strong>REVIEWS</strong></p><p></p><p><em>An eye for detail an ear for dialogue and a knack for story-telling distinguish this unflinching novel of rural America. -</em><strong><em> </em>Publishers Weekly</strong></p><p><em>A breezily readable summer novel that not only entertains but also surprises. It explores the dynamics of family relationships without ever stooping to sentimentality and it's one of this summer's most pleasant surprises. - </em><strong>Austin American-Statesman</strong></p><p><em>This is writing on a par with that of top-flight black-comic novelists like Sam Lipsyte and Jess Walter and it deserves to be read. -</em><strong> Lev Grossman</strong></p><p><em>A witty snarky and thoroughly enjoyable read. - </em><strong>Portland Book Review </strong></p><p><em>From beginning to end the novel's great achievement is Hill's gift of </em>characters<em>: people who are often broken crumbling and struggling but always irresistible. -</em><strong> Brother Patrick Mary Briscoe O.P. Dominicana</strong></p><p><em>What makes [East of Denver] special and especially powerful is that Hill like his damaged characters has a real talent for fucking everything up. -</em> <strong>Tropmag</strong></p><p><em>There's no fantasy escapism here. It's real life. And real life is darkly comic. - </em><strong>Adventures With Words</strong></p><p><em>A fine first novel from a writer with a great sense of character - </em><strong>Booklist</strong></p><p><em>Dark humor zany characters and a sharp eye for detail distinguish this arch novel set in Colorado's dying farmland. - </em><strong>Marysue Rucci</strong></p>