Punky Lucia Moberg turns sixteen in a week. She steals CDs from stores, argues with Mom, pines for the rebel boy next door. But adolescence ends fast in a mall parking lot when Luc's professor father is shot dead in an apparent botched stickup. The killer flees, and so ignites an inferno that will engulf all the women it touches: a mother whose domestic life is shrouded in darkness, a pregnant outlaw desperate for a secure life, a dogged family cop atoning for her own family's collapse, and Lucia herself, caught in the peril and violence that surrounds her.

Derek Nikitas' profile page

• Edgar Allen Poe Award Nominee
• Nominated, Edgar Allan Poe Award Nominee

Derek Nikitas has published stories inThe Ontario Review, Chelsea,Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine,andThe Pedestal Magazine. Pyres is his first novel.

“Nikitas' stellar first novel isn't just one of the best genre debuts of the year, it's one of the best releases -- period.” —The Chicago Tribune

“Part whodunnit, part horror story, with a pinch of the supernatural, Nikitas's debut novel is not your average mystery... This is a genre-stretching narrative where the bad guys are human, the good guys are flawed, and rescue arrives late if at all. It is also literary, gripping, and very real; Nikitas captures the voices of his three female protagonists with compelling accuracy.” —Library Journal

“A harrowing debut novel in which a girl who witnesses the brutal murder of her father learns the worst is yet to come... The prose is admirable, the mood pure Ingmar Bergman. Proceed with caution.” —Kirkus Reviews

“A heartbreaking coming-of-age story and a gripping pyschological thriller.” —Booklist

“A stylish, assured voice that depicts his characters in every harsh, flattering, beautiful light and shows how a single, seemingly random event has the effect of converging the lives of disparate and damaged people.” —Sarah Weinman

“A fever dream and a waking nightmare--a hypnotic, sophisticated descent into hell. Nikitas is the heir apparent to Joyce Carol Oates.” —Marcus Sakey, THE BLADE ITSELF

“Derek owes me a night's sleep...Loved it! That opening chapter shocked me rigid.... Are you sure this is a debut? The writing is to roar for and loud and triumphant. Just a marvelous, wonderful book!” —Ken Bruen