"Dark and gritty as a gravel road." - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

"A searing novel of corporate corruption and justice denied." ? Jay Parini

"A wonderfully affirmative novel written with grace, style, and verve." ? Florida Times-Union

"A novel of astonishing depth and power." ? Jack Anderson

"A courtroom thriller with vividly imagined and deftly rendered characters." ? Publishers Weekly

Reclusive hermit and ex-hunter W. T. Halvorsen is a scapegoat for the crimes of the rich and the mighty in remote Hemlock County, Pennsylvania. Dragged into a courtroom in shackles, he must convince a judge and jury that everything they believe about their government and their town's chief employer is a lie. His only friends outside the courtroom are a jilted young beautician and a suicidal teenager. But saving his life could cost their own. An epic tale of crime, corruption and environmental destruction, and of one honest man's fight for the truth.

Of his nearly fifty published novels, David Poyer's least-known body of work may be his Hemlock County series, set in a Faulknerian imaginary county in Western Pennsylvania. The first was THE DEAD OF WINTER (Tor Books); the second, WINTER IN THE HEART (Forge). AS THE WOLF LOVES WINTER was an alternate selection of The Literary Guild and the Doubleday Book Club. THUNDER ON THE MOUNTAIN, a historical novel set in Depression-era Pennsylvania, was released by Forge Books/St Martin's Press, and received starred reviews from all three major reviewing agencies. THE HILL is a recently published YA coming of age novel also set in Hemlock County. Poyer is a board member of the Northern Appalachia Review and core faculty at the Ossabaw Writers Retreat.