Sins of Our Fathers (back cover)
Fiction

Sins of Our Fathers

By
Shawn Otto
Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize
Select Format

Set in the backwoods of northern Minnesota’s Iron Range, Sins of Our Fathers is a gripping tale of power, loss, and the ultimate price of the American Dream. This thriller from the Heartland follows John White—better known as JW—who has just been caught stealing from his employer to support his gambling addiction. On the verge of losing everything, JW must choose between prison and his boss’s twisted plan: the sabotage of a competing, Native American banker named Johnny Eagle. But when JW moves onto the reservation to carry out this scheme, he forms an unexpected bond with Eagle’s delinquent son, a relationship that gives him both the access to do Eagle in, and a reason not to proceed.

A stunning debut from veteran screenwriter Shawn Otto, Sins of Our Fathers is “a fine depiction of how all the best intentions can—and do—go very, very wrong” (Urban Waite).

ISBN
9781571311184
Publish Date
Pages
376
Dimensions
5.5 × 8.5 × 0.88 in
Weight
16.6 oz
Cover Art
Author
Shawn Otto

Shawn Otto

Shawn Otto is an award-winning science advocate, author, and educator. He is the author of The War On Science: Who’s Waging It, Why It Matters, What We Can Do About It and the cofounder of ScienceDebate.org. His novel, Sins of Our Fathers, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and his film House of Sand and Fog was nominated for three Academy Awards.

Praise and Prizes

  • “Sins of Our Fathers is the Russian nesting doll of crime novels. An arson inside an embezzlement inside an assault inside a banking scheme, all the way down to the core of the book, which is an unflinching look at America’s original sin: five hundred years of physical and spiritual violence against Native peoples, both on and off the reservation. Crimes that made our country.”

    Attica Locke
    author of Black Water Rising

  • “Stylish … A wonderfully vivid debut.”

    Publishers Weekly
    (starred review)

  • “With precise writing and a storyteller’s eye for detail, it’s hard to believe this is Shawn Otto’s debut novel. Sins of Our Fathers is a fine depiction of how all the best intentions can—and do—go very, very wrong. A magnificent debut.”

    Urban Waite
    author of The Terror of Living

  • “Screenwriter-turned-novelist Shawn Otto has pushed his perfectly crafted characters to their limits. The result is a literary tour de force and a psychological thriller that hooked me from the first page and carried me through to its stunning conclusion.”

    Joel Surnow
    creator of 24

  • “Excellent writing and dynamic characters make this novel a page turner that stands above the rest.”

    Robert Alexander
    author of The Kitchen Boy

    You Might Enjoy

    Based on this book, we recommend you try…
    War on Science
    Nonfiction

    The War On Science

    Shawn Otto

    At the very time we need them most, scientists and the idea of objective knowledge are being bombarded by a well-funded, three-part war on science. This provocative book investigates why and how, and offers compelling solutions to bring us to our…

    Fiction

    A Hole in the Story

    Ken Kalfus

    An irreverent, darkly comic novel dissecting the misjudgments, hypocrisies, and occasional good motives that drive our politics and our journalism, as well as our most intimate personal relations.

    At his desk one day, prominent Washington commentator…

    Montana 1948
    Fiction

    Montana 1948

    Larry Watson

    In this modern classic, the charges of a young Sioux woman force David Hayden’s father, the sheriff of their small town, to confront his older brother, a charming war hero and respected doctor. This novel is an astonishing tale of love and courage…