From Powells.com
Staff recommendations, guest essays, and curated reading lists.
Our favorite books of 2020-2021.
Hot new releases and under-the-radar gems for adults and kids.
Staff Pick
Set in Mississippi a few decades after the lynching of Emmett Till, deeds of the past come to roost in a way that is beyond twisted and grotesque. Everett's The Trees is a gruesome, horrifying police procedural and supernatural mystery that is truly, and unexpectedly, hilarious. With that being said, it is a poignant, profound, and biting critique of contemporary American society, deeply concerned with the ways in which our history bleeds, violently, into our present and future. Not only do I now recommend this to everyone that I talk to, but I consider it to be necessary reading for everyone. Recommended By Eric L., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
An uncanny literary thriller addressing the painful legacy of lynching in the US, by the author of Telephone
Percival Everett’s The Trees is a page-turner that opens with a series of brutal murders in the rural town of Money, Mississippi. When a pair of detectives from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation arrive, they meet expected resistance from the local sheriff, his deputy, the coroner, and a string of racist White townsfolk. The murders present a puzzle, for at each crime scene there is a second dead body: that of a man who resembles Emmett Till.
The detectives suspect that these are killings of retribution, but soon discover that eerily similar murders are taking place all over the country. Something truly strange is afoot. As the bodies pile up, the MBI detectives seek answers from a local root doctor who has been documenting every lynching in the country for years, uncovering a history that refuses to be buried. In this bold, provocative book, Everett takes direct aim at racism and police violence, and does so in a fast-paced style that ensures the reader can’t look away. The Trees is an enormously powerful novel of lasting importance from an author with his finger on America’s pulse.
Review
"This fierce satire is both deeply troubling and rewarding." Booklist, starred review
Review
"[The Trees] blends Everett's wit with elegy and solemnity." The Boston Globe
Review
"Everett's sharp latest (after Telephone) spins a puckish revenge fantasy into dark social satire underpinned by a whodunit... this timely absurdist novel produces plenty of chills." Publishers Weekly
About the Author
Percival Everett is author to more than thirty books. He voted for Joe Biden.