Authors have been lining up to praise the debut book by Bristol-based author Ross Jeffery, whose writing has drawn parallels with literary titans like Cormac McCarthy, Stephen King and Chuck Palahniuk.
Juniper is the first book in Ross Jeffery’s proposed trilogy: a post-apocalyptic horror about an insane American town seemingly at the edge of reality. As Juniper suffers from scorching drought and medieval famine, the townsfolk are forced to rely on the ‘new cattle’ for food: monstrous interbred cats kept by the oppressed Janet Lehey.
But there’s a problem: Janet’s prized ginger tom, Bucky, has gone missing, flown the coop. As Janet and her deranged ex-con husband Klein intensify their search for the hulking mongrel, Betty Davis, an old woman clinging to survival on the outskirts of Juniper, discovers something large and ginger and lying half-dead by the side of the road.
She decides to take it home…
Jeffery’s book was described as “Deliciously dark and delightfully peculiar” by Lucie McKnight Hardy, author of Water Shall Refuse Them, who said that “this wildly original story of small-town America is both disturbing and beguiling.”
Priya Sharma, author of All The Fabulous Beasts and Ormeshadow, was also full of praise for Juniper, saying that, in his surreal and dark debut novel, Jeffery “has birthed the lovechild of Stephen King and Cormac McCarthy.”
Meanwhile, Daniel James, author of The Unauthorised Biography of Ezra Maas, warned readers that “Juniper is not for the faint of heart.” but also drew comparisons between Jeffery and literary legends, adding: “Visceral and raw but always poetic, Jeffery successfully channels Chuck Palahniuk and Stephen King at their shocking best. You’ll want to look away at times, but trust me when I say, you won’t dare turn your back on Juniper.”
Juniper is being published by The Writing Collective. Purchase a copy of the ebook online.
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