True Curse

John Martis is tired of suffering and sees no reason to keep going. Voices and images that only he perceives have tormented him for years. His father had him committed to an adolescent psychiatric facility, and later he lived out of his car on the streets of Chicago.

For a time, John had a bright spot: he won a Pulitzer Prize, which brought fame and money. It gave him no relief, and in truth it made his struggles worse. Alcohol, creditors, and a bitter ex-wife took nearly everything he had. What remains is a failing Chevy and his grandmother's rundown cabin in Eastern Kentucky, where he looks for a final way to make the hallucinations and their damage stop.

John is close to destroying himself. One more binge could finish him, but a hostile sheriff and a controlling preacher will not let him slip away quietly.