Pretend I Am Someone You Like

Fiction. In backwater Louisiana, young Mutty takes care of his cousin Barn, who hasn't spoken since his father was arrested. Pepper, Mutty's lover, is also haunted by a violent past. Their relationship grows spiritually and physically as the three fight off Pepper's sexual predators invading their little world full of mud, hay, and crawfish. PRETEND I AM SOMEONE YOU LIKE lovingly juxtaposes child-like phrasing into a rural world of threatened innocence.

This is courageously strange writing that will intrigue and beguile the reader from the get-go, and it boasts a dénouement that would make Quentin Tarantino squirm... Unsettling, endearing, and brilliant.--Kirkus Reviews