A taut thriller set in Florida's desolate panhandle, part coming-of-age story, all hard-boiled noir."Compelling . . . Watson crafts the plot of Night Letter skillfully, keeping the tension between Travis's past and present tight. Key to that tension is the narrative voice, which draws us into Travis's struggle to understand his obsession and the danger it can unleash . . . Memory, he discovers, is a slippery thing, and what emerges from the past has shocking reverberations in the present, and into the future."—Tampa Bay Times"Watson evocatively blends the dreamy, hormonally addled banality of teen life with the existential anxieties of lost innocence and regret. Fans of S.E. Hinton's rough-hewn teens and the gothic noir of Tennessee Williams will welcome this bittersweet tale of redemption." —Publishers Weekly"An atmospheric coming-of-age story equally touched by noir and Southern...

Sent to live in the humidity of rural Florida with his grandparents and his sixteen-year-old Aunt Delia for the summer, twelve-year-old Travis becomes absorbed in the closed ways of small-town life. Captivated by Delia, Travis watches her attempt to find a place for herself in the socially stunted, gossip-driven town. Delia's secrets go beyond what Travis can understand, but he believes that he alone can save her—a belief that not only forces him to grow up fast, but one that builds to a dangerous and disturbing climax. In trying to free Delia from her past, Travis leads her into a shocking present and a most uncertain future.

"High school football mixes with Faust in this blitz of a novel from Watson . . . a big Dennis Lehane-like story of society, opportunity, and consequences, revealing Watson as an accomplished storyteller."—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review"Honor, loyalty, even life and death form the core of this wrenching story."—Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review"Watson's visceral descriptions of the physicality of sport are more than matched by his knowing depiction of small-town corruption in this fast-paced coming-of-age story."—Booklist"A sleeper that sneaks up on you. Pitch it to old school readers who appreciate intelligent and hard-hitting novels that are more than sports books."—Library Journal"Fighting in the Shade is less a sports novel than a coming-of-age story wound around a mystery, with football as symbol and symptom."—St. Petersburg...