Cataract City

Cataract City, a dead-end border town overlooking Niagara Falls. Owen Stuckey and Duncan Diggs are fast friends as kids - united by wrestling, go-karts, and metal bands - but as they grow into young men, their once simple affection competes with the tensions created by their respective circumstances. Owen, born to relative privilege, seems destined to get out of the city, while Duncan, honest but hard, is hurtling along the rails towards a future working the assembly line at the soulless biscuit factory, The Bisk. As Duncan becomes more and more desperate to escape, he finds himself at opposite ends of the law to Owen, and as the coils of the city creep ever tighter around the two friends, they find themselves struggling not to break free, but simply to survive.



Craig Davidson is a graduate of the Iowa Writer's Workshop. He is the author of the short story collection Rust and Bone (W.W. Norton, 2006/Picador UK) and the novel The Fighter (Soho Press, 2008/Picador UK). His work has been published by Esquire, GQ, The Paris Review and The Washington Post among others.



I can't think of another prose stylist out there as visceral and kinetic as Davidson - there is plenty of brutality within these pages but it's described in such wonderfully textured and precise language as to render it utterly compelling... But for all its violence on display, this is a book with remarkable heart. The bonds between Owen and Duncan are explored with sensitivity and depth, and their symbiotic relationship is portrayed with an intelligence and complexity I've seldom encountered before



Davidson's strengths are attractive and undeniable... Scenes have the hurtle factor in spades - you can't turn the pages fast enough



Powerful... Davidson is a compelling storyteller tackling big themes