DESPERATION ROAD

by Michael Farris Smith (No Exit Press £14.99)

RELEASED from prison after serving 11 years for killing a man while driving drunk, russell Gaines returns home. Meanwhile, a young homeless woman shoots a policeman who attempts to rape her.

When russell runs into her, he is torn between his natural inclination to help and the risk of being caught violating his parole. He has other problems, too, as the brothers of the man he killed want revenge.

A gripping must-read from the steamy American South.