Don't Know Tough

· Soho Press
3 reviews
Ebook
336
Pages
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About this ebook

WINNER OF THE EDGAR AWARD
WINNER OF THE PETER LOVESEY FIRST CRIME NOVEL CONTEST

Friday Night Lights gone dark with Southern Gothic; Eli Cranor delivers a powerful noir that will appeal to fans of Wiley Cash and Megan Abbott.

In Denton, Arkansas, the fate of the high school football team rests on the shoulders of Billy Lowe, a volatile but talented running back. Billy comes from an extremely troubled home: a trailer park where he is terrorized by his mother’s abusive boyfriend. Billy takes out his anger on the field, but when his savagery crosses a line, he faces suspension.

Without Billy Lowe, the Denton Pirates can kiss their playoff bid goodbye. But the head coach, Trent Powers, who just moved from California with his wife and two children for this job, has more than just his paycheck riding on Billy’s bad behavior. As a born-again Christian, Trent feels a divine calling to save Billy—save him from his circumstances, and save his soul.

Then Billy’s abuser is found murdered in the Lowe family trailer, and all evidence points toward Billy. Now nothing can stop an explosive chain of violence that could tear the whole town apart on the eve of the playoffs.
WINNER OF THE EDGAR AWARD WINNER OF THE PETER LOVESEY FIRST CRIME NOVEL CONTEST Friday Night Lights gone dark with Southern Gothic; Eli Cranor delivers a powerful noir that will appeal to fans of Wiley Cash and Megan Abbott. In Denton, Arkansas, the fate of the high school football team rests o...

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Ratings and reviews

3 reviews
Shirley McAllister
March 24, 2022
Compelling, tragic and heartbreaking. This story will touch your soul. A story of a high school football coach fired from a school in California and relocating to a school in the Ozarks, a small Arkansas town. A football coach named Trent Powers with an overbearing wife and a domineering father in law. A man who tries to live life right with god and his country, tries to do good for his family and tries to help a young troubled football player named Billy Lowe. Billy Lowe is a troubled young man. Living in poverty in a small trailer house with his mother, his younger brother and an abusive step father. He knows pain, he knows cruelty and he is steeped in anger. When he takes out this anger on the football field it causes the whole town to be in an uproar. The new coach takes Billy into his home and tries to help him win a scholarship. It all changes when Billy's stepfather is found dead and Billy, his mother, and his older brother Jesse are all suspects in the murder. The truth of the murder is even more wild. This is a story of two tortures souls. A story of poverty, pain and anger. An anger that cannot be quenched. The author did a wonderful job writing the story and the narration was perfect. The book was a good story and I would recommend it. Thanks to Eli Crandor for both writing a great story and doing a perfect narration of it, to R.B. Media for publishing it and to NetGalley for making it available to me.
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Nikki Grant
March 8, 2025
mr kraner is aVERY GOOD MAN! IVE DELT WITH HIM PERSONALLY AND HE HAS EXCELLANT BECK GROUND I ĤIGHLY RECCOMEND ANY BOOK MR. KRANER EVER COMES UP WITH MORE. IF HE EVER CAME TI ME I BET HE WOULD BE ABLE TO MAKE A GOOD BOOK BUT HES A VERY GOOD PERSON IMM MY BOOĶ!!!!
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About the author

Eli Cranor played quarterback at every level: peewee to professional, and then coached high school football for five years. These days, he’s traded in the pigskin for a laptop, writing from Arkansas where he lives with his wife and kids. His work has won The Greensboro Review's Robert Watson Literary Prize and been featured in Missouri Review, Oxford American, Ellery Queen, The Strand and others. Eli also pens a weekly column, "Where I'm Writing From" for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, and his craft column, "Shop Talk," appears monthly at CrimeReads. He is the author of Don't Know Tough, which won the Peter Lovesey First Crime Novel Contest, and Ozark Dogs. For more information visit elicranor.com.
Eli Cranor played quarterback at every level: peewee to professional, and then coached high school football for five years. These days, he’s traded in the pigskin for a laptop, writing from Arkansas where he lives with his wife and kids. His work has won The Greensboro Review's Robert Watson Lite...

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