The Kept

A classily written crime novel that is also an atmospheric evocation of a bygone era. * The Sunday Times *
Darkly beautiful...The Kept is a rare blend of brutality and empathy, emotion and close observation. I thought at times of Cormac McCarthy's work and of the novels of David Vann. At other times it brought to mind Stef Penney's The Tenderness Of Wolves and Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain. But there's something wonderfully distinctive about The Kept... A literary page-turner of the highest calibre by a writer of serious talent. -- Jonathan Lee, author of JOY
Mysterious and compelling... James Scott has written a riveting and memorable debut novel. -- Tom Perrotta, author of The Leftovers
With its vivid sense of time and place, lyrical writing, and complex questions of what constitutes a family, The Kept is an outstanding debut by a bright new voice in fiction. -- Ron Rash, author of Serena and The Cove
Winter and discontent... Scott is the master of mood... Haunting' * New York Times Book Review *
Dark and mysterious… A novel whose daring is found in its bleakness… The plot unfolds with a weighty languor reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy… Sparse, elegant… haunting. * New York Times *
Reads with the stark clarity of a Johnny Cash song * Washington Post *
Feels like the shell of a Cormac McCarthy novel filled with the intricate yearning and familial strife of a Lorca play… A gripping combination I don’t think we’re likely to find anywhere else. * The Rumpus *
Dark and brutal… Never lets up until the climactic scene, in prose that’s brooding and intense right up until the final paragraph… So packed with incident and character, and so fluidly paced, that it’s brought vividly to life by Scott’s meticulous control * Toronto Star *
Scott is [a] master storyteller in this outstanding debut * Kirkus (starred review) *