Grievances

"Grievances is a beautifully written, compelling tale of race and redemption. Mark Ethridge has captured the South in a way that is every bit as evocative as Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and he has told a story as riveting as the best Grisham courtroom thriller. But Grievances is no mere thriller. It is a story of the heart that will resonate with readers long after they have turned the final page. This is one of the most deeply satisfying novels I have read in a long, long time. I can't recommend it highly enough." --Pat Conroy, author of My Losing Season and Beach Music
"It is rare to come across a first novel as satisfying and sophisticated as Mark Ethridge's Grievances. While it is undeniably a thriller of the top order, it also displays a subtle understanding of race, of memory, and of The South. That Mark Ethridge, a former reporter and editor himself, knows the territory about which he writes is to be expected. But what comes as a far greater pleasure is that he understands realms of the heart. This conjunction of tradition and psychology, meshed with truly break-neck, evocative prose makes Grievances a book that can be appreciated both as the thriller it is, and yet also for the deeper questions about society that it probes." --author of Hart's War, The Analyst, and The Madman's Tale
"Mark Ethridge's Grievances captures the romance, intrigue and sheer fun of good old-fashioned journalistic detective work. An irresistible tale of personal redemption and self-discovery that is both moving and compelling." --Doug and Melinda Marlette, author of The Bridge
"Grievances is a haunting blend of simple beauty and larger truths, intertwined with a gripping mystery and a lead character as heroic as he is cursed by his own past. Ethridge captures the gutty workings of big city newspapers and small-town America like few authors ever have. The effect of it all is truly rare-a riveting tale out of the South, uplifting and sorrowful and most of all timeless." --author of Friday Night Lights
"Mark Ethridge's debut novel should come with a warning label on the front cover: Do not pick up this book right before bedtime or you're liable to be up all night turning pages. What a satisfying read!" --author of Making Waves, The Sunday Wife, and The Same Sweet Girls
"This is good stuff. Ethridge captures the best part of newspaper journalism, the leather-on-the-street sleuthing that takes a story from the shadowy whispers of possibility to the ink-on-paper reality of truth; the big scoop that changes history and makes the world a better place ... Grievances takes you through all the twists and turns on the decades-long road to justice in a small South Carolina town. Ethridge draws rich characters whose authentic voices narrate the journey to delayed justice. But this isn't so much about the heart of Dixie as it is about the heart of newspapers--about the reporters and editors who commit journalism even when it isn't easy. The best of the book may be about the relationships that it explores--editors and reporters, editors and publishers, fathers and sons, men and women, writer and reader." --Stanley R. Tiner
"A must for your beach bag." --Polly Paddock
..". A beautifully-written thriller. If you're looking for one more good read to carry you through the summer, Grievances by Mark Ethridge is the one to get." --Dennis G. Sodomka
"[This] debut novel should be included on any fiction fan's summer reading list. In Grievances, third-generation journalist Mark Ethridge delivers not only a compelling whodunit, but he challenges readers to confront the legacy of racial segregation. Like the best reporting, although the events happen to others, readers make the connection to their own lives. Ethridge puts his newspaper background to excellent use ... The plot is tight, the pacing good throughout. While filled with action, Ethridge avoids the over-the-top exploits that often strain suspension of disbelief in popular fiction today. It is tempting to hunt for rookie mistakes in a novelist's first work, but there is little to fault in Grievances." --Lexington Dispatch
"I enjoyed Grievances more than any novel I've read in a long time ... Compelling, gripping." --Island Packet
"Pulitzer Prize-winner Ethridge puts his experience as a reporter for the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer to good use in his first novel, which focuses on the efforts of his autobiographical hero to uncover the truth behind an unsolved murder ... Ethridge writes well." --Publishers Weekly
"Ethridge engagingly intertwines soul-searching and grit to tell what could have been a routine 'journalist-outsmarts-society's-strictures-and-catches-the-culprits' tale ... Ethridge's quicksilver prose manages to make normally prosaic subjects intriguing." --Dottie Ashley
..". A well-paced journalistic whodunit. Veteran journalist Mark Ethridge has a real ear for dialogue and a knack for building suspense." --Ben Steelman
"I wasn't prepared for a book that captured my attention so much that I read it in only three days ... Grievances is more than just a story about racial injustice. It gives readers a firsthand look at life as a struggling journalist ... he weaves a tale so good readers will swear it has to be true. It has been several years since I've read a book that was so compelling, I knew it could become a bestseller. But Grievances is just that book." --Ivy Moore
"Satisfying [and] entertaining." --Cliff Bellamy
"Should appeal to a wide range of readers ... I wanna say this is a good book. Hell, I'll say it. It is a good book." --Linda Brinson
"An intriguing novel ... Ethridge precisely conveys the grunt side of newspaper work, [and] the book's supporting characters are beautifully drawn. Each is elevated above 'type' by Ethridge's careful observation." --Akron Beacon-Journal
"Ethridge's book recounts what journalism is really about." --Ann Patterson
"The tale of a twenty-year-old unsolved murder with racial undertones features a hard-working, underappreciated reporter at a big-city newspaper ... Interesting [and] satisfying." --Deirdre Parker Smith
"Ethridge has written a novel I could not put down ... Word also has it that [the author] has a second novel nearly finished. If so, readers of the memorable Grievances have double-cause to rejoice--that his first was so enthralling and that there are more to come." --Larry McGehee
"What a great debut novel!" --Faye Dasen
"Ethridge is a good storyteller." --The Southern Pines Pilot
"Grievances is a novel worthy of your summer reading list." --Gill Thelen
"Grievances is my favorite new book." --Rapid River Magazine