Hungry Rats

by Connor Coyne, Elisabeth Blair (Editor), Sam Perkins-Harbin (Illustrator)

The Rat Man, a serial killer, is on the loose in Flint, Michigan, and nobody can stop him. Except you, Meredith Malady, a high-school girl with a dysfunctional family and a score to settle. Running away from home is the first step, but where will you stay? How will you survive? And what will you do when you meet the Rat Man face to face? Connor Coyne's debut novel, described by Heartland Prize-winning author Jeffery Renard Allen as "an emotional and aesthetic tour de force," is told in gripping second-person. An unknown narrator speaks to Meredith as she struggles to tie together the threads of her own history and to bring a killer to justice.

258 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2010

About the author

Connor Coyne is a writer living and working in Flint, Michigan.

He's published several novels, including the award winning serial novel Urbantasm, as well as a short story collection. His work has been featured in Vox.com, Belt Magazine, and elsewhere. He lives with his wife, two daughters, and a geriatric rabbit in Flint's College Cultural Neighborhood (aka the East Village), less than a mile from the house where he grew up.

Reviews

[Danielle Szabo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Coyne's first novel is adventurous. The second-person, who-is-narrating bit can take quite a while to get used to, especially when the rug gets pulled from under you at the end of part one. But the story is engaging as it crosses Michigan landscapes, spans through time, and darts between PoVs. The novel also showcases the darker parts of pre-water-crisis Flint.