The Summer of Crud

-Eric Hoffer Award Finalist, 2018

“A slender, fast-paced, fever-dreamed excursion . . . undeniably addictive.” -Kirkus Reviews, Recommended Review

The summer after graduating from college, 22-year-old Danny Wolinski takes a cross-country US road trip with his friend, Ian Perez, hoping to find the inspiration to reach his songwriting potential, start a band, and avoid student teaching in the fall.

Danny is tormented by intense physical and psychological pain and sees music as his only relief, but the more he searches for this inspiration in an America filled with endless parties, heavy drugs, and lost souls, the more he questions whether it exists.

A deeply disturbing and psychological coming-of-age novel, The Summer of Crud explores the complexities of friendships, masculinity, sex, mental illness, and addiction, and shows how the quest to unlock one's creativity can both inspire and destroy a person.

*The Summer of Crud is the second book in a loosely-linked series with Hammond, Understanding the Alacrán, Developing Minds: An American Ghost Story, and The Soul City Salvation as books one and three-five. Each novel can be read independently of the others.