Hard Times
A Novel
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- $21.99
Publisher Description
An extraordinary crime novel from a rising star, that follows the ripple effects of a tragic shooting throughout a Chicago community from the view of the teachers, police officers, and students impacted
“A deeply satisfying story with as much, heart, grit and history as the city that it’s set in.” —Xochitl Gonzalez, New York Times bestselling author of Olga Dies Dreaming
Buddy Mack has been caught in the middle of two worlds at war.
As an English teacher at a South Side, Chicago, high school lauded for its football team, but at risk in every other way, he tries to instill a love of literature. While all of his students face challenges, he’s especially concerned with a trio of boys who test him to no end but are full of promise and heart: Zeke, the football star; Truth, the sweet-talking charmer; and Dontell, Buddy’s most promising student.
At home, his wife, Chrissy, a successful corporate lawyer, is ready to upgrade to a big house on the North Side and start a family, but Buddy’s torn over the implications. And the closest person he has in his life to talk to is Chrissy’s little brother, Curtis, a corrupt Chicago cop.
When the two worlds collide in a shocking moment that rocks the school, Buddy has to choose a side and fight for all he holds dear. Hard Times takes stock of what it means to be there for your people whether you want to or not and unflinchingly confronts the American Dream—a moving, engrossing, and necessary read.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
A teacher struggles to do right by his students in this emotionally charged crime drama. After leaving a job at a posh private school to work at a school on the South Side of Chicago, English teacher Buddy Mack begins to question his choices when one of his students is murdered. Meanwhile, teenagers Zeke and Truth, believing that sports are their ticket out of the city, find that family obligations and their own choices keep them tethered to the life they are trying to escape. Author and former public school teacher Jeff Boyd takes a deep dive into the internal choices and external forces of life in this community. There are many familiar crime-thriller character types—drug dealers, corrupt cops, and well-meaning citizens—yet Boyd takes a different perspective. He puts us right inside their heads, showing how even the most horrific events can begin to seem mundane when you face them repeatedly. Hard Times is a darkly poetic and mesmerizing crime tale.
