The Water Cure

I am guilty not because of my actions, to which I freely admit, but for my accession, admission, confession that I executed these actions with not only deliberation and premeditation but with zeal and paroxysm and purpose …The true answer to your question is shorter than the lie. Did you? I did.

“If Percival Everett isn’t already a household name, it’s because people are more interested in politics than truth.”—Madison Smartt Bell

“Percival Everett is a genius. He’s a brilliant writer and so damn smart I envy him.” —Terry McMillan

The Water Cure is the chilling confession of a victim turned villain. Ishmael Kidder is a successful romance novelist. His agent is coming to visit her usually productive client. But Kidder’s eleven-year-old daughter has been brutally murdered, and it stands to reason that he must take revenge by any means necessary. The punishment is carried out without guilt, and with the usual equipment—duct tape, rope, and super glue. But how will he explain the noises in the basement to his agent? How does he know he has the right man?

Percival Everett combines his prodigious gifts for gripping storytelling and lacerating satire as he explores the impact of national excess on individual conscious. He brings together disparate elements of Western philosophy, language theory, and military intelligence as he asks his most provocative question of all: What are we to think in today’s America, when society seems to be rewriting all the rules?

“A sharp satirical voice only predictable in its provocation.” —Playboy Magazine

“Percival Everett is one of the most adventurously experimental of modern American novelists.” —The Washington Post