The Grove

“Rector writes with deceptive grace, spinning out irresistible prose with a dark pulse between every line. This is psychological suspense at its most seductive. I loved it.” —Sean Doolittle, author of Safer

Dexter McCray is a farmer with a dark past that continues to haunt him. As a struggling alcoholic, he’s used to being looked at with pity and suspicion in his community. After waking from a blackout to discover the body of a teenage girl in the nearby cottonwood grove, he can't be entirely sure he's innocent. With no memory of the previous night, he sees no choice but to investigate the crime himself. Fortunately he’s not alone. He has some help . . . in the shape of the dead girl herself.
      Is Dexter motivated by guilt or insanity, reason or folly? And how will the young victim provide the help he desperately needs? With plot twists on every page, Rector breathes life into a story that pits reality against hallucination, truth against improbability. The Grove is a sinister tale of one man haunted by the reality of his failed life.

“Tough, dark, and beautifully told.” —David Peoples, screenwriter of Unforgiven, Twelve Monkeys, and Blade Runner

John Rector is a prize winning short story writer and author of the novels The Cold Kiss (optioned for a feature film now in development), and The Grove. He currently lives in Omaha Nebraska.