An English teacher is gaslit by his charismatic high school bully in this tense story of deception, manipulation, and murder.
Single father Todd is relaxing at the beach with his son, Anthony, when he catches sight of a man approaching from the water’s edge. As the man draws closer, Todd recognizes him as Jack, who bullied Todd relentlessly in their teenage years but now seems overjoyed to have “run into” his old friend. Jack suggests a meal to catch up. And can he spend the night?
What follows is a fast-paced story of obsession and cunning. As Jack invades Todd’s life, pain and intimidation from the past unearth knife-edge suspense in the present.
Set in a small town on the New England coast, Conner Habib’s debut introduces characters trapped in isolation by the expansive woods and the encroaching ocean, their violence an expression of repressed desire and the damage it can inflict.
Both gruesome and tender, Hawk Mountain offers a compelling look at how love and hate are indissoluble, intertwined until the last breath.
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“A deeply disturbing yet, somehow, soaring novel I won’t soon forget. It plumbs the depths of traumatized characters trapped within our damaging culture. I couldn’t look away, even when I was looking from between my fingers.”
— Paul Tremblay, nationally bestselling author
“Habib ramps up the paranoia to Highsmithian levels."
— The Guardian (London)“Supremely tense…Hawk Mountain channels Patricia Highsmith by way of Hitchcock...Habib builds the sense of dread with slow, carefully meted out notes of obsession and intuition.”
— CrimeReads“Gaslighting, masculinity, and cycles of abuse are all skillfully handled in a story that is, to put it lightly, not for the faint of heart.”
— Business Post Ireland“This heart-pounding thriller will have readers furiously turning pages.”
— Booklist (starred review)“The tension is palpable on every page, and Habib skillfully illustrates the complexity of relationships and the pain of unmet desires."
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)“A page-turner in the most classic sense.”
— Gay Community News“Conner Habib’s debut novel is a bleak, dark adrenaline rush.”
— Clive Barker, New York Times bestselling author“Dripping with menace from the first page, this story of childhood enemies meeting up fifteen years later is utterly enthralling.”
— Liz Nugent, author of Lying in Wait“The opening lines of Hawk Mountain plummet you into an atmosphere of creeping dread and precarious restraint that won’t let up until the final, shocking moments.”
— Caitlin Doughty, New York Times bestselling author“A deeply disturbing yet, somehow, soaring novel I won’t soon forget. It plumbs the depths of traumatized characters trapped within our damaging culture.”
— Paul Tremblay, nationally bestselling authorBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Conner Habib hosts the podcast Against Everyone with Conner Habib, which covers topics like punk rock, philosophy, pornography, and occultism. His writing has appeared in CR Fashion Book, Best Gay Stories, Slate, and the Stranger. He lives in Dublin, Ireland.