Fiction. Literature. Mystery. Historical Fiction. HTML:Pete Dexter�??s National Book Award�??winning tour de force tells the mesmerizing story of a shocking crime that shatters lives and exposes the hypocrisies of a small Southern town.
 
The time and place: Cotton Point, Georgia, just after World War II. The event: the murder of a fourteen-year-old black girl by a respected white citizen named Paris Trout, who feels he�??s done absolutely nothing wrong. As a trial looms, the crime eats away at the social fabric of Cotton Point, through its facade of manners and civility. Trout�??s indifference haunts his defense lawyer; his festering paranoia warps his timid, quiet wife; and Trout himself moves closer to madness as he becomes obsessed with his cause�??and his vendettas.
 
Praise for Paris Trout
 
�??A masterpiece, complex and breathtaking . . . [Pete] Dexter portrays his characters with marvelous sharpness.�?��??Los Angeles Times
 
�??A psychological spellbinder that will take your breath away and probably interfere with your sleep.�?��??The Washington Post Book World
 
�??Dexter�??s brilliant understanding of the Deep South has allowed him to capture much of its essence�??its bitter class distinctions, its violence, its strangeness�??with a fidelity of detail and an ear for speech that I have rarely encountered since Flannery O�??Connor.�?��??William Styron
 
�??Dexter�??s powerfully emotional novel doesn�??t have any brakes. Hang on, because you won�??t be