Paris Trout

By Pete Dexter

Book Overview

Pete Dexter s National Book Award winning tour de force tells the mesmerizing story of a shocking crime that shatters lives and exposes the hypocrisies of a small Southern town. The time and place: Cotton Point, Georgia, just after World War II. The event: the murder of a fourteen-year-old black girl by a respected white citizen named Paris Trout, who feels he s done absolutely nothing wrong. As a trial looms, the crime eats away at the social fabric of Cotton Point, through its facade of manners and civility. Trout s indifference haunts his defense lawyer; his festering paranoia warps his timid, quiet wife; and Trout himself moves closer to madness as he becomes obsessed with his cause and his vendettas. Praise for "Paris Trout" "" A masterpiece, complex and breathtaking . . . Pete] Dexter portrays his characters with marvelous sharpness. "Los Angeles Times" A psychological spellbinder that will take your breath away and probably interfere with your sleep. "The Washington Post Book World" Dexter s brilliant understanding of the Deep South has allowed him to capture much of its essence its bitter class distinctions, its violence, its strangeness with a fidelity of detail and an ear for speech that I have rarely encountered since Flannery O Connor. William Styron Dexter s powerfully emotional novel doesn t have any brakes. Hang on, because you won t be able to stop until the finish. "Chicago Tribune""

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140122060
• ISBN13: 9780140122060
• Release Date: January 1989
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Length: 306 Pages
• Weight: 0.52 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.1" x 7.8"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Great story !

I immediately purchased another of Dexters books after finishing this. Great writing and storyline. Will probably read more of his work.

Masterful and Swift

Paris Trout is a novel of great speed and explosive power, and it begins this way and never really lets up. It is Dexter's great achievement here: he creates and atmosphere of suspension and tension that can be, at times, nearly unbearable. He has also crafted a character, Paris Trout, so sinister in his dimensions that the reader can not help but feel sorry for him despite his innumerable acts of evil. Trout is both cipher...

A remarkable book

Paris Trout centers around a character of the same name. Though he is clearly a psychopath, he has money and is a business man, so his violent nature is ignored by the citizens of his small town, Cotton Point, Georgia. The book opens with an attack by Trout on a local black family. The town's white population does not want to be seen siding with a black family against a white man, so, from then on they turn a blind eye towards...

Follow Dexter if you dare!

In the mood for a nice little murder story? Well, don't look here. This tale of murder is as bad as they come; there is no subtlety, no ironically cute plot twists. Author Pete Dexter takes readers by their hands and whispers, "Come follow me if you have the courage, and I will show you the depravity of man." This brutal, unblinking honesty has become Dexter's trademark, and few writers can match his skill. "Paris Trout"...

A chilling tale of racism, murder and hypocracy

There is no question that Dexter is a wonderful wordsmith. He knows how to arrange language for the effects he wants. What makes this book much better than just a well written, literate story of racism and murder, however, is the vivid picture Dexter draws of the main character, Paris Trout, and the townspeople who tolerate him. Trout is a sociopath who inspires fear in all those around him. His brutal and selfish actions,...