When Ray Johnson's brother Billy is found murdered in a ditch, Ray is overcome with sorrow and a strange sense of relief. In a quiet Michigan town with no secrets, Billy's death unleashes some ugly memories -- events that the working-class Johnson family has struggled for years to forget. Ray watches closely as the sheriff pursues the killer, and soon he is reluctantly drawn back to a violent and chaotic family history, which he reveals in a voice that is sometimes funny, often shocking, but always unsparingly honest. In the span of four unforgettable days Ray Johnson propels us through past and present, desolation and joy, as he is forced to reassess a life of stark abuse and remarkable Love.Billy Dead looks unflinchingly at the web of devotion and cruelty that can bind families together in a merciless pact. In a world of brutality both given and received, we are asked finally what redemption is possible.
- ISBN10 0670882240
- ISBN13 9780670882243
- Publish Date 24 September 1998
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 29 January 2010
- Publish Country AU
- Publisher Penguin Books Australia
- Imprint Viking/Allen Lane
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 304
- Language English