Multi-layered and absorbing, Vercher’s sensational debut interrogates the toxic relationship between a Black man passing as white and his best friend - who has returned from prison a violent racist – with nuance, power and almost unbearable suspense.
Shortlisted for the John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger 2021
Pittsburgh, 1995.
Twenty-two year old Bobby Saraceno is a biracial black man, passing for white. Bobby has hidden his identity from everyone, even his best friend and fellow comic-book geek, Aaron, who has just returned from prison a newly radicalized white supremacist.
During the night of their reunion, Bobby witnesses Aaron mercilessly assault a young black man with a brick. In the wake of this horrifying act of violence, Bobby must conceal his unwitting involvement in the crime from the police, as well as battle with his own personal demons.
A harrowing story about racism and brutality that is more urgent now than ever.
Publisher: Pushkin Press
ISBN: 9781782276876
Number of pages: 256
Dimensions: 198 x 129 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
'John Vercher has such love and compassion for his characters in Three-Fifths that I couldn't help but be sucked into their lives from the very first pages. It's so incredibly suspenseful that I was continually surprised by the story and deeply moved by the time I turned the last page' - Attica Locke
'Short, lucid and harrowing' - Observer, Thrillers of the Month
'Dark, gritty and thrilling' - Daily Mail
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