Far Beyond the Pale

In this darkly comic novel Nathan "Honey Boy" Kimbrough narrates a boy's search for a father and his mother's search for a "good man" in the mid-1970s. Honey Boy is a thirteen-year-old, four-letter-spouting, pistol-packing kid who is determined to learn something about the art of thieving swag from Kingdom County's own resident outlaw: Vaughn, a man so wicked that he is gone beyond the pale in his outrageous acts which include ransacking homes, stealing livestock, and intimidating his neighbors. Ultimately, he falls under the tutelage of Vaughn, a natural born killer with the conscience of a sociopath. What follows is a conclusion so violent that even Vaughn might wonder if he hasn't done his job too well. Vigilantes in Fairmont surround the outlaw at his favorite tavern with deer rifles and revolvers drawn in a modern southern novel with an explosive climax.