On Halloween night in a small Midwestern

Town, tragedy occurs. Among the usual petty vandalism and teenage pranks, a local police officer discovers the gruesome evidence of what appears to be a hit-and-run accident. But as the investigation proceeds and the media spot-light intensifies, a much more ominous story unfolds. While the mayor chief of police conspire divert attention from the primary suspect-a local high school football hero whom they hope will take town all the way to the stated championship-it is left to the man who discovered the body to uncover the truth behind the cover-up.

Michael Collins's third novel, The keepers of truth, was short-listed for the booker Prize and was a New York Times notable book in 2002. Lost Souls confirms him as a master of the fast-paced and psychologically intense literary thriller. It is a harrowing portrait of a town in decline, the leaders of a community desperate to hold it together, and a man whose anguished loneliness forces him to make starting decisions.

 

MICHAEL COLLINS is the author of seven pre-vious works of fiction, among them The Keepers of Truth and The Resurrectionists. Born and raised in Limerick, lreland, he immigrated to America to attend college on an athletic school-arship and has lived here ever since. He currently resides in Bellingham , Washington . With his wife and two children and works as a computer programmer.