The Beautiful Dead End

Book excerpt: Finalist, Books in Canada/Amazon.ca First Novel AwardThe Beautiful Dead End is a visceral crime thriller that takes the reader on an existential journey to the "other side" and almost back again. In a bizarre, shadowy interzone populated by disturbing characters, our anti-hero confronts the dark secrets of his past, and comes face to face with the consequences of having lived an unexamined life.Praise for The Beautiful Dead End:"Every detail of setting and behaviour and inner response contributes to the spare, mesmerizing beauty of Hutzulak's prose" (The Globe and Mail)"So startlingly fresh it is hard to believe it is a first novel. Apparently, it took Hutzulak twelve years to complete the book - a fact that underscores the precision and confidence that is woven throughout the novel. It is a brilliant debut." (Vancouver Sun)"This is an astonishing debut, powerful, scary, sexual, existential in scope. Hutzulak is a writer to watch, and possibly to fear." (Books in Canada)