Some people say high school is supposed to be the best years of your life. For Todd, that couldn't be any further from the truth. Every second of his youth spent in those harrowing halls was made a living hell by his bully, Jack. And now Jack has resurfaced in his life to pretend like everything is fine.
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Available to readers on July 5th, Hawk Mountain is the gripping debut novel from Conner Habib. You might have previously seen Habib's work in both online and print magazines, which featured his nonfiction writing. Since 2017, Habib has also been the host of the popular podcast Against Everyone with Conner Habib, which cultivates conversations with countercultural thinkers to provide nuanced philosophical, political, and spiritual concepts in an approachable way. In his new book, Habib uses his unique voice to "[bring] rich psychological insight to his characters, expertly observing how the conflicts of youth persist into Todd and Jack’s present" (Publishers Weekly).
Long out of his high school years, Todd is a single father working as an English teacher. Carrying the emotional scars of Jack's torment, Todd has moved past the crippling ordeal of his youth as best as he can. One day, as he and his son, Anthony, are lounging seaside in their small New England town, Jack approaches the pair. He's seemingly happy to have reunited with an old friend—a descriptor Todd would be more than hesitant to use.
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Jack urges Todd to join him for a meal so they can catch up. Of course, their baffling, gaslighting reunion turns into a push to stay for the night. As Jack insert himself into the life Todd has cobbled together for himself, all of the pain and terror of the past rise to the surface. Todd's present devolves into taut, suffocating suspense as a tale of dark obsession and sharp manipulation unfolds across the page.
Habib's enticing characters find themselves firmly stuck in isolation between the sprawling, wooded expanse of their coastal town and the vast, looming ocean. Tangled up in long repressed desires, these grown men spiral into violence as the unprocessed wounds of their pasts rear their slippery heads. Cunning deception devolves into murder it this striking story which illustrates just how tightly bound love and hate can be.
This fast-paced, psychological thriller effortlessly combines suspense with literary fiction. Winding crisply through themes of mental health, abuse, grief, and sexual identity, Habib's work will take you on a shocking and disturbing journey rife with crackling tension. Time doesn't heal all wounds. It just delays the inevitable.
Don't miss out on the next great literary hit. Pre-order Hawk Mountain today and immerse yourself in a vivid nightmare from a vital new voice.
Immerse yourself in the summer's hottest thriller and download Hawk Mountain now.
Hawk Mountain
"A brilliantly disturbing, expertly crafted literary noir that will stick with you long after you put it down. Conner Habib has written a flawless meditation on the fruitless, but eternally human, effort to kill off the parts of ourselves we cannot love—literally and metaphorically. I love this book." —Sara Gran, author of The Infinite Blacktop
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