Lost Souls

Michael Collins burst onto the American literary scene with the publication of The Keepers of Truth, which was short-listed for the Booker Prize and was a New York Times Notable Book in 2002. His new novel confirms him as a master of the fast-paced and psychologically intense literary thriller. Lost Souls begins with a tragedy on Halloween night. Among the petty vandalism and teenagers’ pranks, a local police officer discovers the gruesome evidence of what appears to be a hit-and-run accident: a three-year-old child lying dead in a pile of leaves. But as the investigation proceeds and the media’s spotlight intensifies, a much more ominous story unfolds. While the mayor and chief of police conspire to divert attention from the primary suspect—a local high school football hero whom they hope will take the town all the way to the state championship—it is left to the man who discovered the child’s body to find the truth beneath the cover-up.