A Trail of Blood on the Snow

A startling debut noir. A Trail of Blood on the Snow is a chilling exploration of masculinity, madness, and the harrowing legacy of abuse.
"He remembers me. He remembers the screaming and the blood on the snow. He remembers everything, I can tell."
Rex is 41. Halfway to death and no happier for it. Any promise of a better life got stifled decades ago, when Rex was a limping school kid and Max was the school bully.
Then, a chance encounter. Max standing smug and handsome at a gas station with his oh-so-perfect family.
Rex secretly follows them home. Watches them. Thinks about his own miserable life. What Max did to him, and how a real man would claim revenge.
Rex acts.
Is this the making of a monster, or the breaking of a man?

This book idea hit me like lightning; there was no escaping it. I have no idea why such a dark novel idea 'chose' me, I only know that Rex's voice was dying to be heard. I think this book holds tremendous power in its ability to shock readers into questioning the way we shame men/boys for showing emotion, and what calamitous effects that can have on their lives, as well as the lives of others. There is so much attention on women's issues right now, which is of course very important, but I find that there is far less attention on men's issues, which is unfortunate since the male suicide rate is four times higher than that of women. The fact that I'm a woman writing about men's issues in such a flagrant, 'transgressive' way startles me.