Compound Fracture By Andrew Joseph White

From bestselling and award-winning author Andrew Joseph White comes Compound Fracture, a gritty queer Appalachian thriller that confronts the generational struggle between the rural poor and those who exploit them. Sixteen-year-old Miles Abernathy, a trans autistic teen, is determined to end the blood feud plaguing his West Virginian hometown of Twist Creek. On the night he comes out as trans to his parents, Miles sneaks off to a party with photos that could finally expose the corruption of Sheriff Davies—the man responsible for the “accident” that injured his father, killed others, and crushed their efforts to unseat the sheriff.

The feud traces back a hundred years to when Miles’s great-great-grandfather, Saint Abernathy, led a miners’ rebellion that ended in a public execution. Now, Miles becomes the feud’s latest victim when the sheriff’s son and his friends track him down in the woods and beat him nearly to death. In the hospital, haunted by the ghost of a soot-covered man, Miles faces the sheriff's threats of silence. But everything changes when Miles accidentally kills one of his attackers.

Now aware of others in Twist Creek who are desperate to escape the sheriff's oppressive grip, Miles must decide how far he’s willing to go to end the cycle of cruelty. As tensions rise, he’s drawn into a dangerous battle for justice that will challenge his beliefs and push him to his limits.

Compound Fracture is a visceral, unapologetically political novel that will grip readers who are ready to fight for a better world.