After the Lights Go Out

The latest novel from the CWA-shortlisted author of Three-Fifths – a Sunday Times , Guardian and Financial Times Book of the Year. ‘Thrums with authenticity’ – The Times ‘Powerful, bruising and beautiful’ – Chris Whitaker ‘A bleak, brilliant slice of American noir’ – Daily Mail ‘ John Vercher could well be the next great American novelist’ – Kia Abdullah ” Shrewd and explosive ‘ – New York Times ‘Vercher writes with the intensity of championship round’ – Kevin Powers, author of The Yellow Birds ‘A stunning, stone-cold knockout’ – P. J. Vernon, author of Bath Haus ‘Think Warrior by way of Fat City’ – William Boyle, author of Shoot the Moonlight Out ‘John Vercher writes like a fighter, a dancer, an athlete’ – Wiley Cash, author of A Land More Kind than Home IT’S NOT A COMEBACK. IT’S A FIGHT FOR HIS LIFE. Xavier “Scarecrow” Wallace is a biracial Black MMA fighter on the wrong side of thirty, who’s been given a last-ditch chance to break into the big leagues. He is also losing his battle with pugilistic dementia, a struggle he is desperate to hide. In the nursing home of his father, a white man suffering from Alzheimer’s, Xavier witnesses shocking episodes that expose ugly truths about his family and his past. As the big fight draws near, Xavier is faced with a dangerous dilemma: throw his match or suffer the deadly consequences.