BILL BEVERLY grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and studied at Oberlin College and the University of Florida. His research on criminal fugitives and the stories surrounding them became the book On the Lam: Narratives of Flight in J. Edgar Hoover's America. He teaches American literature and writing at Trinity University in Washington, DC.
"Although Beverly evokes the great outdoors with photographic
clarity, claustrophobia effectively haunts his narrative...With his
focus on people and personalities, the author could justifiably
bypass the bigger picture, the heartland rusting to death in the
background. But, admirably, he doesn't." - The New York Times
"Vastly impressive...draws lyric prose out of the unlikeliest of
materials." - The Wall Street Journal "Intimate and intense,
Dodgers is a gripping coming of age tale that evokes Salinger's
Catcher in the Rye. It's Bill Beverly's debut novel--his previous
nonfiction book delved into the stories of criminal fugitives--and
his potent, direct prose will lure you in from the first page." -
Los Angeles Magazine "I try not to read thrillers because they tend
to keep me up to all hours of the night, and I don't have the time.
Bill Beverly's Dodgers (No Exit Press) broke through my wall of
self-denial and, yes, I did stay up late for two nights to finish
it. Four black boys in a gang from Los Angeles are given a job:
drive across the country to carry out a hit on a black judge. What
can go wrong? Everything, of course. The prose is tight, the
dialogue rhythmic, the pacing fast, the violence measured, and the
ending unexpected. So what if I lost some sleep?" - Viet Thanh
Nguyen, The Financial Times
"In Dodgers, the tension stays high and reflective moments serve
only to give the characters -- and the reader -- a breatherbefore
the next, more exciting set piece, ofwhich there are many. Great
ending, too." - Esquire "In the case of 'Dodgers' by Bill Beverly,
there can't be too many accolades. Think of it as a coming-of-age
tale with menace and dark sentimentality. A teenage gang member and
three cohorts who have never been out of L.A. are dispatched on a
cross-country journey to murder a witness set to testify against
the gang's adult leader. What happens along the way and after the
fact is, to use my own adjectives, 'harrowing, ' 'wrenching' and
'redemptive." - The Sacramento Bee "With the savvy of a much more
prolific writer, Beverly plants a powerful conclusion on a powerful
first novel. Dodgers is brilliant with no more than it needs--and
no less." - Shelf Awareness "This sweeping coming-of-age story will
take you to whole new heights... This is a book in which you'll
hold on tightly to every character." - Bustle "With
characterizations recalling the best of George Pelecanos...Fans of
HBO's The Wire and Richard Price novels will be engaged by the
book's themes of race, identity, and the U.S. class system."
-Library Journal (Starred Review) "Will be one of the most
talked-about debut novels of the year. Think Attica Locke's Black
Water Rising or Dennis Lehane's A Drink Before the War--it's that
good. ...This unpretentious literary crime novel will upend your
notions of the sort of character with whom you might empathize." -
Bookpage (Top Pick) "A dazzling crime novel that's equal parts
coming-of-age tale a la Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye and
travelogue a la Kerouac... Readers won't soon forget East and his
bloody journey of self-discovery and, ultimately, salvation." -
Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) "The premise and execution are
terrific, and the prose is remarkable: Beverly does more with a
sentence than many writers accomplish in a paragraph. East and his
compatriots are old before their time, and yet we never lose the
sense that they are still growing up, even if their growing-up is
like that of soldiers dropped behind enemy lines in their first
war... Highly recommended for fans of Richard Price, this is a
searing novel about crime, race, and coming-of-age, with characters
who live, breathe, and bleed." - Booklist (Starred Review) "Beverly
follows the great tradition of American crime fiction in paring his
prose to the bone so that not a word is wasted and his
foul-mouthed, funny dialogue rings true." - The Sunday Express
"Dark, edgy and riveting and, for all that, deeply, humanly
serious, Dodgers is white knuckles for the mind. I love this book
and will closely follow Bill Beverly forever hereafter." - Robert
Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize winning author of A Good Scent from a
Strange Mountain "Not only is the fast-paced and masterfully
plotted Dodgers one of the greatest literary crime novels you will
read in your lifetime, Bill Beverley has also created, in the
teenage boy, East, one of the most unforgettable and heartbreaking
characters ever encountered in American fiction." - Donald Ray
Pollock, author of Knockemstiff & The Devil All the Time
"Propulsive, brutally honest and yet unexpectedly tender, Dodgers
is one of the best debuts I've read. I was absolutely gripped by
the voice, the world of East and his brother, and surprised at
nearly ever turn. I audibly gasped at the end." - Attica Locke,
author of Black Water Rising and Pleasantville "Reading Dodgers is
like having the veil lifted from your eyes: the world is more
vivid, more intense, more exquisite, and more terrifying than you
ever knew. Bill Beverly is a conjurer, a poet of the dark arts, and
his novel is a spell: when he sends his young drug-world
protagonist on a deadly errand in the alien landscape east of
L.A.--that fat swath of America known to him only by its names and
its shapes on maps--it is you who makes the journey, who is the
stranger in a strange land, a watcher who now feels the eyes of
others wherever you go, and who must pay the devastating tolls of
crossing boundaries. Hypnotic, breath-taking, bruising, beautiful,
important, true--choose your adjectives, this is a great novel." -
Tim Johnston, author of Descent "In Dodgers, Bill Beverly delivers
with honesty and empathy as he takes us into the hope-killing
shadow of LA's street-level drug kingdom. His prose are a perfect
match for young East's life-altering journey; spare, clear-eyed and
with the cutting edge of flint. Beverly leads us into the heart of
a young man molded by circumstance and, much as Richard Price's The
Whites, gives a view that will change the way you look at the
world." - Susan Crandall, national bestselling author of Whistling
Past the Graveyard "The sentences will snare you, and the story
keeps you hooked -- a thrilling cross-country journey that takes on
the poetry and resonance of myth" - Adam Sternbergh, author of
Shovel Ready and Near Enemy
"Bill Beverly's wild and auspicious debut takes off from page one
and never lets up. Dodgers, a kind of modernized and urban take on
Theodore Weesner's The Car Thief, is lightning-quick and
world-wise, full of pitch-perfect dialogue and criminal
misadventure. Most importantly, it's a lot of fun." - Tom Cooper,
author of The Marauders "Dodgers transcends genres. Its main
character East, is part Kerouac's Sal Paradise, Part Wrights'
Bigger Thomas, and even part Salinger's Holden Caulfield. The
hero's journey is an American story." - Ernesto Quinonez, author of
Bodega Dreams "Dodgers is a wickedly good amalgamation of
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Clockers that stands firmly on
its own as a remarkable debut. A Harrowing road trip into the heart
of America that will shock you, move you, and leave you marveling
at its desolate poetry. A real accomplishment: a book that makes
you see the familiar through new eyes. It will stick with me for a
long, long time." - Richard Lange, author of Angel Baby and This
Wicked World
"Bill Beverly's gritty and propulsive debut novel, Dodgers, is more
than a riveting read; it is a stunning literary achievement. Our
hero, East, a fifteen-year old hit man, drives across America on a
deadly mission, from the mean streets of LA to the heart of the
heart of the country. East is a character as memorable and as
haunting as any I've met in contemporary fiction. And he's not
alone in that van, but there is room for one more. So hop in, but
strap on your seatbelt and hold on to your hat. The road's a little
bumpy--and more than a little terrifying-- up ahead." - John
Dufresne author of No Regrets, Coyote
"A terrific novel, urgent, thrilling, and dangerous from start to
finish. In East, Mr. Beverly has created a character who stays in
the mind after the book is finished, an Odysseus straight out of
Compton. His venture into the unknown lands of the American Midwest
has a classic, mythic shape and scope. And the writing throughout
is lovely, economical and exact. You could read this for the
sentences alone." - Kevin Canty, author of Into the Great Wide
Open
"I knew before I'd gone very far into Bill Beverly's superb first
novel that I was about to lose some sleep, since putting it down
seemed to be beyond me. To say it's a page-turner doesn't do it
justice, though it certainly is. It's also much more. His
characters are vivid and real, and yes, sometimes they'll break
your heart. The world they inhabit--no matter where they may be at
a given moment--all but leaps off the page. It's a winner. So is
its author." - Steve Yarbrough, author of The Realm of Last Chances
and Safe from the Neighbors "From the moment we encounter East, a
mostly silent kid who "didn't look like much," we are initiated
into his gaze on the malfunctioning world, a kind of concentrated,
exquisite hypervigilance that is both his burden and his gift. It
is this quality of attention that makes Dodgers such an intense
read -- inescapable, inevitable, impossible to set aside. We can no
more turn off East's vision -- and the sense of urgency that comes
with it -- than he himself can, and we are along for the ride. The
truth-telling and pared-down purity of voice here are reminiscient
of Denis Johnson, as if this novel were not written but channelled.
This is a beautiful, extraordinary book." - Wendy Brenner, author
of Large Animals in Everyday Life and Phone Calls from the Dead
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