The Keepers of Truth

It is the mid-80s in post-industrial America. In a small town graced with the decaying hulks of defunct factories, young journalist and college dropout Bill churns out lengthy essays on the death of industry and of America itself for The Daily Truth, whose scoops rarely rise above the latest home-bake contest.

The static summer is punctured when local bad boy Ronny Lawton reports his father missing. A dismembered finger is found and all suspect the son of murdering his hated father, but nothing can be proved. The sorry tale of the white trash Lawtons hypnotises the town and Ronny Lawton becomes a local icon. Bill becomes increasingly obsessed with the story - he gets involved with Ronny's estranged wife, finds a decomposing human head and ends up as a suspect in the murder case himself.

Things come to a head and Ronny Lawton holds his wife, child and Bill hostage in a confrontation with the FBI.

Short-listed for IMPAC Dublin Literary Award 2002
Short-listed for International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award 2002
Short-listed for Booker Prize for Fiction 2000

Michael Collins was born in 1964. He was educated in Belfast, Dublin and Chicago. His short stories have been awarded the Hennessy/Sunday Tribune Award in Ireland and the Pushcart Prize in America. THE KEEPERS OF TRUTH was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the International IMPAC literary award in 2000. He is also the author of THE RESURRECTIONISTS, a volume of short stories, THE FEMINISTS GO SWIMMING and several other books.

It is the mid-80s in post-industrial America. In a small town graced with the decaying hulks of defunct factories, young journalist and college dropout Bill churns out lengthy essays on the death of industry and of America itself for The Daily Truth, whose scoops rarely rise above the latest home-bake contest.The static summer is punctured when local bad boy Ronny Lawton reports his father missing. A dismembered finger is found and all suspect the son of murdering his hated father, but nothing can be proved. The sorry tale of the white trash Lawtons hypnotises the town and Ronny Lawton becomes a local icon. Bill becomes increasingly obsessed with the story - he gets involved with Ronny's estranged wife, finds a decomposing human head and ends up as a suspect in the murder case himself.Things come to a head and Ronny Lawton holds his wife, child and Bill hostage in a confrontation with the FBI.

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