SIBA AWARD NOMINEE
AT THE END OF THE ROAD has been nominated for the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance 2012 SIBA Book Award.
At ten, Kyle’s world is all about secrets—secrets hidden in the maze of cornfields, in caves, in the embers of scorched earth, behind creaking doors and down basement stairs…and in the darkest of hearts.
A young woman has gone missing, and Kyle was the last one to see her alive--bruised and bleeding, but alive. This is yet another secret.
There’s a policewoman at his front door. The Paralyzed Man watches him from the neighboring porch. And no matter which way Kyle turns, no place seems safe anymore...
Irresistibly creepy . . . Reminiscent of classic thrillers . . . from "Psycho" to "Deliverance, " "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane" to "Nightmare on Elm Street" and not since "Lord of the Flies" have we seen children at the mercy of such meanness from their own kind. --The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"Scary" "Demented" "Maliciously Cunning"
"RATCHETS UP A HIGH LEVEL OF DREAD."
--Publishers Weekly
The book unravels with such an unstoppable momentum that cautious as you may be, and as far back as you may stand, you're still going to be stung. --Jedidiah Ayres, B&N Ransom Notes
Unsettling suspense and chilling tone . . . A disturbing (in a good way) coming-of-age story with one of the creepiest characters to inhabit my imagination in a while - a paralyzed man with "a distinctively reptilian appearance" who might be the devil on Eden Road. --The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Grisly suspense . . . Unimaginable horror. --Kirkus Reviews
Absolutely pitch-perfect . . . Deserving of a place on shelves alongside the all-time classic coming of age stories ever written. --Elizabeth A. White, The Florida Times-Union
Relentless . . . Gut-wrenching. --Teresa Weaver, Atlanta Magazine
They sat there at his kitchen table. It was like they were friends and he was having Kyle over for a glass of milk. Except they had been sitting there at the table, not saying anything, for a good long while. And it wasn’t milk in the tall glass sitting in the middle of the table. It was Drano. The red and blue metal can was sitting right next to the glass. He had made Kyle pour it, because he said his wrist was sprained. The liquid was thick and gloppy and had a little tinge to it.
“I can make you drink that,” he said. “Do you believe me?”
Kyle didn’t answer, because he did believe him. Kyle did believe that he could make him drink it. That he would end up just like Joel Sewell. He would be disfigured. He could imagine the way it would feel in his mouth, how it would burn away his tongue and eat his flesh.
“Now I don’t mean that I’ll physically force you to do it,” he said. “I mean that if I tell you to, you will pick up that glass of acid and drink it.”
He just stared and held Kyle in those polar eyes, cutting him up like a thousand frozen knives.
“Pick it up. Drink it.”
Kyle reached out. The glass was warm, like the acid was giving off heat. Kyle picked it up. He couldn’t resist those eyes. He couldn’t. He couldn’t. He couldn’t. He couldn’t. He couldn’t.
He couldn’t.
Kyle took the fluid into his mouth.
Goodreads Book Giveaway
At the End of the Road
by Grant Jerkins
Giveaway ends June 30, 2012.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.
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