Will I love Hawk Mountain?

If there’s a theme with my favorite fiction books, it’s that I tend to read them in one sitting. I read Hawk Mountain while waiting for and then on an airplane, and I cried, to the alarm of my seat partner.

Not for the faint of heart, this is an incredible little novel that examines cycles of abuse, what repression does to someone over time, and how it bleeds out and affects everyone around them. This horror story about a man, his son, and the thoughts he won’t let himself think until he’s confronted with a boy from his past… show more.

Habib’s novel is an interesting and disturbing debut following a single father who unexpectedly reconnects with a former bully who has ulterior motives.

The first part of the novel jumps back and forth between their high school days and the present, leading to a moment of shocking violence. It’s the aftermath of that violence and how the protagonist deals (or fails to deal) with it that stands out the most, leading to a gut-wrenching conclusion.