The Weatherman: A Novel

A riotous new novel by the author of War Memorials, a "gritty and tender and crazily funny book" (Bret Lott)Everything that happens is linked, as any meteorologist can tell you. Otherwise, there could be no basis for prediction. But that doesn't mean predictions come easy. Hail can still fall from a clear blue sky. Every weatherman knows what it's like to be wrong.Taylor Wakefield had two defining moments as a child: he very publicly lost a national spelling-bee championship after he stumbled on the word "responsibility," and on the steamy back roads of Alabama, he watched his no-good cousin Billy kill a man.His high-profile failure at the spelling bee brings him a short-lived career as "The Sugar-Puffs Kid" on a call-in radio show, as well as a lifelong crush on the Seminole girl who beat him. Years later, Billy, now a God-fearing district attorney, accuses an innocent man of the murder Taylor witnessed. Outraged, Taylor uses his position as an unqualified weatherman for a fly-by-night broadcasting company to break his silence. Each night on television, he attempts to right a wrong by dropping hints about his cousin's guilt, ultimately proving that one Alabama town does indeed need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.Winner of the S. Mariella Gable PrizeResponsibility, free will, and fate loom large in Clint McCown's hilarious, suspenseful new novel.