What do you think?
Rate this book
Bannon '79
There is something in the heart of Bannon, Vermont.
Summer 1979. School’s out in Bannon, Vermont, and thirteen-year-old Sam Cadence plans to spend every day of it the same way — reading comics in a hidden tree fort with his best friend, Adam, far from the fathers who won’t miss them and the bullies who will.
Then two strangers come to town, trudging through the swampy Lowlands at night, searching for something. A girl named Alessa walks out of the dark and into their lives. And a beautiful woman with too many names starts asking questions about Bannon.
And about Sam.
Because Sam has a secret. He can hear what people are thinking. And he has never known why.
The answer is waiting deep in the Lowlands, where the light doesn’t scatter right and something has begun to glow. Sam is about to learn what his gift cost.
And who paid for it.
Summer 1979. School’s out in Bannon, Vermont, and thirteen-year-old Sam Cadence plans to spend every day of it the same way — reading comics in a hidden tree fort with his best friend, Adam, far from the fathers who won’t miss them and the bullies who will.
Then two strangers come to town, trudging through the swampy Lowlands at night, searching for something. A girl named Alessa walks out of the dark and into their lives. And a beautiful woman with too many names starts asking questions about Bannon.
And about Sam.
Because Sam has a secret. He can hear what people are thinking. And he has never known why.
The answer is waiting deep in the Lowlands, where the light doesn’t scatter right and something has begun to glow. Sam is about to learn what his gift cost.
And who paid for it.
372 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 15, 2026
About the author
Ian West
2 books2 followersIan West writes about small towns with big secrets, quiet corners of America where something strange is always glowing just past the tree line. His stories share a single connected universe, the Cataclysm Saga, stretching from the backroads of Vermont to the plains of Minnesota and beyond.
He is the author of Continuance and the novel Bannon ’79, the first installment in the Bannon trilogy.
When he isn’t writing, he’s usually logging miles on long runs or keeping two old machines alive: a ’66 Chevy pickup and a ’78 Trans Am, both of which have been known to find their way into his fiction.
He lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.
He is the author of Continuance and the novel Bannon ’79, the first installment in the Bannon trilogy.
When he isn’t writing, he’s usually logging miles on long runs or keeping two old machines alive: a ’66 Chevy pickup and a ’78 Trans Am, both of which have been known to find their way into his fiction.
He lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
No one has reviewed this book yet.