Iron House

I was to have introduced John Hart at a FOLUSA panel at the 2006 American Library Association conference in New Orleans. Alas, his flight was canceled, but I was glad to have read The King of Lies, which he would have introduced; it made a powerful impression. That book was an Edgar nominee for best first novel. Hart's second novel, Down River, won an Edgar for best novel—as did his third, The Last Child, which became a New York Times best seller. So I think I am on safe ground when I say that this fourth work will be very, very good. The story features two orphaned brothers, one of whom escapes the orphanage after being accused of killing another boy. He doesn't see his brother for 20 years, when he's on the run from the crime world he initially embraced. With a one-day laydown on July 12, a national tour, and a reading group guide; consider multiples.