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The Descent of Man

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WHAT READERS ARE SAYING:

ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Award 2011 Gold Medal Winner in General Fiction

“[A] lively debut…suspenseful.”—Publishers Weekly

“The Descent of Man could be used as Exhibit A in how to write a taut plot-driven story. The story catches you from the opening line and just never lets you go. If you’re looking for a fast beach read, look no further. . . What makes The Descent of Man a good read is that Jim’s actions and every decision seem so very plausible. It’s almost as if this could happen to each one of us. As his life spins out of control, it’s hard not to feel some relief in knowing it’s not you in that situation . . . a page-turner.” —MostlyFiction

“Desinger steps into a life of suburban paranoia in this disquieting thriller where the existential musing on the nature of loneliness and grief is associated with one man’s descent into metaphysical hell . . . the novel snaps with tension” - CurledUp.com

“Enticing and unpredictable.”—Blogcritics

“Give one of Harlen Coben’s everyday heroes a conscience, a wine cellar and a sensitive wife, and there you have Jim.”—The Oregonian

“Kevin Desinger’s harrowing first novel . . offers a meditation on the struggle between thought and action .  . .  Desinger’s fumbling hero is swept along by the same pensive indecision that carried Hamlet to his grisly end . .  but, unlike Hamlet, emerges from the shadows changed. . . . and shows us not only the terrifying consequences but perhaps also the sobering necessity of indulging our inner darkness.” –Portland Monthly

“A thoughtful literary thriller, a good read for people who might avoid thrillers because they often contain clichéd dialogue, situations, or characters—Desinger’s book is free of these faults.”—Newwest.net

“This ingeniously plotted first novel holds many surprises, not least of which is Jim’s ability to dial back his civilized persona, revealing the feral creature who emerges when his family is threatened…terrific.”—Booklist

“Kevin Desinger so captured the unraveling of the mind when you’re outraged over someone stealing from you or destroying your property.  How easy for law abiding people to lose it making one terrible decision after another.  I felt as though I was looking out over this character and pleading with him not to go there and you knew he would.”
—Rita Maggio, BookTowne, Manasquan, NJ

This page-turner is filled with suspense, surprises, and actions that will leave you gasping in disbelief.  Most alarming of all, it will have you asking yourself the question, “Could this happen to me?  Am I capable of this?  Is this happening to our society right NOW?”  This is a fascinating, compulsive read! - Nancy Simpson-Brice, Book Vault

“Takes readers on a tense, exciting, yet dark journey through the descent of a quiet professional into a man driven by an innate, primal instinct to protect all that he has built in his life….I would recommend The Descent of Man to all readers, but especially those looking for a taut thriller with a lot of underlying moral and ethical questions which make this also on interesting choice for discussion groups.”— Runpinne.com

“As you read this book you will find yourself repeatedly asking, ‘What would I do?’ The story is thought-provoking and real . . . You will keep turning the pages, wanting to know what happens next and you won’t be able to put it down . . . this was a wonderful read.”—Elizabeth Provenzano, Tulsa Books Examiner

“Readers who enjoy psychological thrillers and literary fiction will find The Descent of Man a worthwhile read.”—caribousmom

“The Descent of Man ultimately forces the reader to ask themselves how they would respond were their own normal lives to take such an unexpected turn.  This novel led to an interesting “What would you do if…” conversation with my husband.  I like novels that spark thought-provoking conversation… therefore I like The Descent of Man….The setting was brilliant… for being so vivid, yet so nondescript.  You can picture every street, shop and empty lot… yet this book could easily have taken place anywhere.  The highly specific, yet utterly nondescript quality of the The Descent of Man‘s setting adds to that “average Joe” feeling that we are meant to take from this book.  Genius.”— The Lit Witch / Lit Witch Top 5 Book of 2011

KEVIN DESINGER

THE DESCENT OF MAN

One night Jim, a quiet wine steward, wakes to find two men trying to steal his car. Against the petitions of his wife, he goes outside to get the plate number of the thieves’ truck. Instead, something comes over him and he drives away in their truck until he recovers his wits and realizes what he’s done.  When Jim learns that the two would-be thieves are brothers with a history of violence, he soon finds himself over his head in a mire of sinister events and must risk everything to regain what he can of his life before that night.

“There are books that you can’t put down, and there are books that won’t go away even after you put them down, the force of their moral conundrums haunting the stories of our own lives. The Descent of Man is a spectacular showcase for both literary virtues—the riveting tale of a modest but perfect life under assault, and a resonating challenge to our own self-knowledge, the authenticity of that knowledge, which can only be confirmed through crisis.

Who are we when push comes to shove? What are we capable of? Do we have the fortitude to save ourselves from the bad things in the world, and the backbone—the strength of mind and spirit—to protect those we love from harm? Kevin Desinger confronts us with these questions in the steady, quiet voice of Everyman, a decent guy sitting in a parlor chair, calmly narrating a firestorm that’s consuming his house and family. He has written a novel that is flawless, masterful, unforgettable, and chilling in its dramatization of the way we live in fragile grace each day in America, our blessings balanced on the edge of violence and loss.” —Bob Shacochis

BOOK INFORMATION

$14.95 / $15.95 CAN | Fiction Paperback | 6x9 | 272 pages

April 2012

ISBN: 978-1-60953-069-3 | Carton Quantity: 24

EISBN: 978-1-60953-044-0

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READ EXCERPT

A truck with its lights out idled in the street. White steam pulsed from the tailpipe and drifted off, but the truck made no sound. From our bedroom window I could make out the motionless shapes of two men on either side of the truck, facing each other. They both turned toward our house, but I was able to step back before they looked up to the second floor, where I stood in the dark. I recalled having been awakened by a clank like you hear from a distant game of horseshoes, but not why it had drawn me to the window. Marla slept on, but she can sleep through anything.

When I peered out again, both figures were standing together on the near side of the truck. They were studying our car. Even after I realized that the sound had come from a piece of steel striking the pavement, an element of disbelief kept me from piecing together what was happening. My sleepy forty-year-old brain plodded through the stages of cognizance, from seeing to understanding. In college philosophy I had learned the difference between immediate and mediate perception.

Immediate: two guys. Mediate: I recognize them as two guys. The first is simply the mechanism of my eyes discerning shapes in the visual field; the second is my brain making sense of the shapes.  Both stages happen at the speed of thought—the first perhaps even faster because it happens before thinking interferes.  Either I’d skipped the next class or we hadn’t covered a third stage of perception (maybe making sense of the action), but it took what seemed like forever: Two guys are stealing our car. The fourth stage, let’s call it self-awareness, quickly followed: I’m standing here like an idiot watching two guys steal our car.

THE AUTHOR

Kevin Desinger

Kevin Desinger graduated from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop before moving to Portland where he wrote for the Willamette Week, the Oregonian and a number of regional publications. An earlier short story appeared in The Missouri Review. This is his first novel.

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