Buy Pike from an indie bookstore, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, or PM Press.
Douglas Pike is no longer the murderous hustler he was in his youth, but reforming hasn’t made him much kinder. He’s just living out his life in his Appalachian hometown, working odd jobs with his partner, Rory, hemming in his demons the best he can. And his best seems just good enough until his estranged daughter overdoses and he takes in his twelve-year-old granddaughter, Wendy.
Just as the two are beginning to forge a relationship, Derrick Kreiger, a dirty Cincinnati cop, starts to take an unhealthy interest in the girl. Pike and Rory head to Cincinnati to learn what they can about Derrick and the death of Pike’s daughter, and the three men circle, evenly matched predators in a human wilderness of junkie squats, roadhouse bars and homeless Vietnam vet encampments.
“Whitmer’s writing is swift, brutal, precise poetry, formed into the shape of people– breathing, hateful, murderous, vulnerable people that I care about deeply now. His characters are broken to begin with, and yet he breaks them open again and again, each time revealing a darker, thicker black sludge inside, and yet, this is also a story about innocence and trying to protect what tiny amount there is. There isn’t a trace of sentimentality in here, but whatever tiny embers of warmth that are to be found in this devastated landscape (a landscape so bleak it approaches, at time, allegory, and yet remains disturbingly visceral), those embers are completely earned and the meager heat thrown off by them all the more valuable because of it. I feel covered in blood.”
–Charles Yu, author of Third Class Superhero and How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe
“This is what noir is, what it can be when it stops playing nice–blunt force drama stripped down to the bone, then made to dance across the page.”
–Stephen Graham Jones, author of Demon Theory and Ledfeather
“Without so much as a sideways glance towards gentility, Pike is one righteous mutherfucker of a read. I move that we put Whitmer’s balls in a vise and keep slowly notching up the torque until he’s willing to divulge the secret of how he managed to hit such a perfect stride his first time out of the blocks.”
–Ward Churchill, author and activist
“Benjamin Whitmer’s Pike captures the grime and the rage of my not-so fair city with disturbing precision. The words don’t just tell a story here, they scream, bleed, and burst into flames. Pike, like its eponymous main character, is a vicious punisher that doesn’t mince words or take prisoners, and no one walks away unscathed. This one’s going to haunt me for quite some time.”
–Nathan Singer, author of Prayer for Dawn and Chasing the Wolf
Winner of:
- The 2011 Spinetingler Award for Best Novel: New Voice
- The Spinetingler Fireball Award for Best First Line.
“In a just world Pike will salt the Earth, forcing others to re-examine what can be done with the form.” – Ruth Jordan, Crimespree Magazine
“This is a contemporary thriller that should satisfy any reader’s requirements for violence, tough characters, and sharp-edged dialogue.” — David Pitt, Booklist
“Certain writers should be required reading in schools the way certain movies should be required viewing in schools (American History X, etc.). Pike is one of those books … the way Cormac McCarthy’s works have etched their way into our literary Americana, so does Whitmer’s Pike belong there. This is superb writing, start to finish. Absolutely mesmerizing.” – Charlie Stella, Temporary Knucksline
“Harsh, bleak and without remorse, this modern day western is a ridiculously confident debut.”— Jedidiah Ayres, Ransom Notes: The Barnes & Noble Mystery Blog
“Pike is brutal good fun, with more interest in the beauty of hard language than any other recent crime fiction that I’ve read.” – Jordan Harper, Beautiful Trash
“Pike illuminates the literary potential of a genre that too often resorts to formula and punches pulled. This is proof that ink is still explosive.” – Matthew C. Funk, Day Labor
“Since the death of Larry Brown there have been at least a dozen novelists touted as the heir to Brown’s gritty throne. Needless to say, there have been few who’ve actually lived up to the promise. However, with Benjamin Whitmer’s stark debut, Pike, the Denver, Colorado based novelist easily rivals Brown’s most renowned novels.” – Keith Rawson, Spinetingler Magazine
“Rarely do debut novels pack such a punch.” – Garrett Kenyon, Literary Kicks
“There is no redemption for anyone, and the violence, both physical and emotional, never eases. But it never becomes numbing, because of the strange warmth of Whitmer’s storytelling; his characters, who range from amoral to insane, are so real that it’s impossible not to relate to them as human beings doing the best they can. While this book holds out no hope, it is a work of honesty and compassion. I think the word “love” appears only once, but that’s really what this is about.” – Barry Graham, Illusory Flowers In An Empty Sky
“This book scared me. There’s no horror here, no monsters or demons or ghosts but man at his worst, or maybe his best. Digging through the evil done to reach catharsis, the writing is a beautiful frame holding a horrible painting. Sharp and to the bone.” – Chris Deal, Day Labor
“When you read this novel, and I implore you to do so, you will be able to add many more questions of your own to this list. Answers? Well they are much harder to come by. Maybe we each have to find our own answers as Pike tries so hard to do throughout the story . . . Whitmer writes with economy and vivid descriptions. You will find yourself re-reading paragraphs just to savour the beauty.” – Fiona Johnson, I Meant to Read That
“Folks, let’s hope Benjamin Whitmer never tries to be anything other than what he is, because Pike is proof positive that what he is is a kick-ass writer with a boatload of talent. More, please.” – Elizabeth A. White, Book Reviews by Elizabeth A. White
“They say that great work begets great work, and this is a book I read not only with pen in hand to scribble in the margins, but also with my notebook beside me. Pike so inspired me that I must’ve written half a dozen pages of notes, just hoping to keep up with the lean, mean, nasty-ass poetry of Whitmer’s prose.” Spinetingler Magazine, Nik Korpon
“’A dream,’ muses one of Whitmer’s characters, ‘is a sausage mill you feed your life into.’ So too this novel. Nor will you be able to explain your mood to your friends, let alone the staying power of this relentlessly visceral book, another title in the outstanding Switchblade imprint from PM Press. The surliness will pass. That is, until you miss Douglas Pike’s gruff company — and Whitmer’s — enough to read the thing again.” – Ray Murphy, Seattle Examiner
“Rural noir at its hardscrabble finest.” – Patrick Shawn Bagley, Bitter Water Blog