With a heart-pounding pace, country humor, and a stunning climax, The Rock Hole speaks to the darkness in us all. In bald-headed pot-bellied Ned Parker, Wortham has created an authentic American character who will remind you of the best heroes and antiheroes you've ever experienced.

"Behind him, I saw the tops of several corn stalks twitch, but there was no wind. I started to say something about it, but a man got out of the truck and hollered across the field. Had I known someone was creeping through the field with us that morning, I could have told Grandpa and we might have ended what was coming for us right then and there.

He also might not have had to do what he did.

But at the time, I didn't know I'd been slapped square in the path of a maniac who had it in for our family."