Reverend America — Kris Saknussemm

MATHIAS TRUE IS REVEREND AMERICA. CALLING YOU BACK TO THE HOLY MUSIC OF LIFE. IT IS TRUE! LOVE IS YOUR ONLY REDEEMER! Rocky is the road. Weary is the way. Lay your burden down. Come be Healed by this Glorious WHITE KNIGHT! Mathias is better known as Casper, an albino preacher who had healing ways in his youth. Back in his hometown of Joplin, Missouri seeking rest from years of hurt, Casper soon finds himself with the pregnant teenage prostitute Angelike outrunning their pasts on the great road south. Dangers follow them, characters as crazed and colorful as America's own history greet them, and Casper finds himself on the unexpected road to salvation. Singing in a space between Flannery O'Connor and Carl Hiaasen, Reverend America mixes the old with the new. A kicking and spitting true-to-life tale that is Saknussemm's most heart-rending to date.