Southbound

"There’s a line that runs alongside our ordinary lives, just beyond the grind of things. Jason Beem’s novel Southbound derails your ordinary life and shoots you into the thrill, rush, and dark brutal truths of gambling and racing. And he doesn’t flinch. A glorious and visceral book. I sweat reading it.”–Lidia Yuknavitch, author of The Chronology of Water and Dora: A Headcase.

Based on author Jason Beem’s own painful journey with a gambling addiction, Southbound follows Ryan McGuire, a horse racing announcer who faces his gambling demons on a daily basis. Just one bet could cost him everything…his job, his friends, his fans, his girlfriend, and even his own life. Despite knowing that all he loves is on the line, he succumbs to his vices and his life quickly spirals out of control. He’s on a straight path southbound to rock bottom and only he has the power to stop it.

“A gritty fearless portrayal of a man in the midst of a gambling breakdown. A relapse to end all relapses. It’s as horrifying as it is intense and written with a lean sharp eye.”--Willy Vlautin, author of The Free and The Motel Life

“Jason Beem’s Southbound begins with the drama of a close horse race — and it never lets up from there. Beem has written a smart, perceptive novel — one that is about the difficulties of addiction and recovery — but also about the yearning for love, and the ways people fill the vacancies in their lives. It’s saturated with the sensory joys of the race track, and a pleasure to read.” –Pauls Toutonghi, Pushcart Prize winning author of Evel Knievel Days and Red Weather