After the Lights Go Out

Description

Author: John Vercher

Number of Pages: 288

‘Powerful, bruising and beautiful, After The Lights Go Out is a blistering story of love and loyalty, family, class and belonging. Those who haven’t discovered John Vercher yet are seriously missing out. Outstanding.’ – Chris Whitaker How do you save yourself when you’re the person you trust least of all? Xavier “Scarecrow” Wallace is a biracial Black MMA fighter on the wrong side of thirty, who is facing the comeback fight of his life. He is also losing his battle with pugilistic dementia – a struggle he can no longer deny. In the nursing home of his father, a white man suffering from end-stage Alzheimer’s, Xavier witnesses shocking episodes that expose ugly truths about his past and his family. And as the big fight draws near, a sparring session with a younger competitor goes horribly wrong, leaving Xavier faced with a dangerous dilemma: throw his match or suffer the deadly consequences. ‘John Vercher writes like a fighter, a dancer, an athlete… Here is a novelist at the height of his power.’ – Wiley Cash, author of A Land More Kind than Home ‘Thrums with authenticity and the sweat shines on every page.’ – The Times