Mercy Creek

Mercy Creek is a first novel by
Matt Matthews

On his first day out of school, 16 year-old Isaac doesn't feel that events of June in a town on Virginia's Eastern Shore could threaten his life or even change it. But there are signs. His girlfriend just gave him a geranium for his birthday. His mom, who died the year before, is fading into catch phrases. His dad is romancing a woman Isaac likes but doesn't want to. And a clutch of righteous vigilantes offers a $5,000 reward for conviction of the felon or felons vandalizing town homes.

Isaac's summer job is to sweep and straighten the ware-

house of the town's hardware store. It's the place where

the vigilantes congregate. It's also where unexplained

puzzles swirl like dust motes around coworker Crazy Eddie, an acerbic 82-year-old.

    By the middle of a sultry July, Isaac has discovered that small towns in which everybody knows everybody else's business often hide the most vicious secrets. By solving mysteries of a twisted communal past, laying bare the stains of a history that includes the Klan, Isaac has resolved where he belongs in the world, opening the future. Included in that future is a new girlfriend who would never give him a potted plant.

    In this quietly suspenseful story with splashes of manic humor, the eccentrics, the recluses, the bigots and the bores join the human parade. The beat of march for that parade, however, is the heart-stirring strains of forgiveness.

    Mercy Creek, winner of the South Carolina Arts Commission First Novel Prize, is a memorable novel published (spring 2011) by the award-winner Hub City Press.

HERE ARE the reviews:

Publishers Weekly (May) writes that Mercy Creek is “an ENTICING full-blown whodunit that succeeds without the usual big twist ending” and “is a FIRST-RATE effort displaying SKILL, SENSITIVITY, and GRACE.

"This book is about the deep and slow-moving river that is history and a darker story of a past the town won't reveal. Mercy Creek is REFRESHING, ENTERTAINING, and MEANINGFUL." --Bret Lott, author of Jewel and Ancient Highway

“MERCY CREEK, so beautifully written by Matt Matthews, marks the launch of a brilliant new voice in literature. This coming of age story tells the tale of a summer when the adult world came into focus for Isaac Lawson. IT’S GOT HUGE HEART, it’s compelling and it’s downright irresistible. I loved every single word. You will too. Congratulations, Mr. Matthews! The world wants to know what you’ll give us next! --Dorothea Benton Frank, author of Low Country Summer and Return to Sullivan’s Island.

“THREE CHEERS for Matt Matthews and his surprising debut novel Mercy Creek. Mercy Creek is part mystery and part love story, a chronicle of loss and recovery, and an exploration of family and friendship. The writing, the characters, the sense of place are all vibrant and complex and marvelous." --Sheri Reynolds, author of A Gracious Plenty and The Sweet In-Between

“READERS OF MERCY CREEK WILL BE CAPTIVATED by this story of scandal and intrigue, judgment and fear, cowardice and fortitude, as young Isaac navigates the waters of a turbulent summer that would end with his feeling "like he was right where he belonged, right where he was supposed to be." Matt Matthews offers stunning characters and relationships in this remarkable first novel.” -- John Buchanan, pastor, Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago, and publisher, The Christian Century magazine.

“Matthews has written [an accomplished], fast-paced novel about life in the slow lane, in which mundane life becomes charged with menace. And while his small-town characters are far from idealized, he isn't afraid to celebrate their decency even as he bares their flaws.” --Clarke Crutchfield, Richmond Times-Dispatch, June 5, 2011.

“I finished your book today and was sad to turn the last page . . . What caught me most off guard was how fond I am of Isaac. . . . You've written a remarkable book that took me right back home. To the South with so much that is beautiful, disturbing, honest, unspoken.” –Kelly Clark, Seattle, Washington.

Hilary Daninhirsch writes that Mercy Creek is “a thought provoking read. . . Isaac grows as a person throughout the book—he comes to see his widowed father in a new light, accepting his right to move forward; he also comes to realize that adults are not perfect, and, while they need to be held accountable for their actions, they should sometimes be forgiven.” – Hilary Daninhirsch, ForeWord Magazine, May 2011.

“Mercy Creek is an extraordinary story about a refreshingly ordinary kid. Sixteen year-old Isaac has no magical powers . . . He’s no super athlete . . . is no chiseled Romeo . . . Matthews’ narrative style is filled with just enough detail that we can breathe and see through the dust of the warehouse, suffer the heat of the Virginia summer, meet the colorful (but authentic) townspeople of Rooksville. . . . [Y]ounger readers will “get” Isaac, but so will adults who have any recollection at all of their own teen years.” --Jeffrey Stanton Kellam, Owego, New York.

Mercy Creek is “a sobering but charming story about race relations in the South. It had all the elements you need for a touching plot . . . quirky, fussy townspeople, a mystery, young love, and healing from the loss of a loved one. The characters were unique and memorable, and leading the pack was a noble and likable 16-year-old who has the drive to do the right thing. . . .This is a book I'd let my 13-year-old daughter read. . . . Likewise, I was entertained as an adult. –Sandy Nawrot, “You’ve Got to Read This,” May 24, 2011, sandynawrot.blogspot.com