“A man escapes from prison only to find he can’t separate himself from his past. Pineville Trace is a story of a man on the run. Wes Blake renders the tale with great empathy and in language that’s so lyrical it practically lifts from the page. Blake is a writer to watch.” —Lee Martin, author of the Pulitzer Prize Finalist The Bright Forever "This was an utterly compelling read. Blake’s prose is sparse and simple, whose short, almost broken, sentences sing with enormous power. This is the hollow heart of Frank’s magic, and provides a powerful indictment of the American Dream – what does one become if one can embody and enact all of one’s desires? Blake’s answer to this is captivating, sophisticated, and utterly haunting." —SmokeLong Quarterly Review by A W Earl