Nothing could be more humane, or timely.' - Karen Fisher, author of A Sudden Country But his witness, the writer, makes no easy sense of the crimes he encounters, and is capable of only the most tenuous conclusions. Guterson's characters, powerless to deter, correct, or forgive one another, can only denounce and punish. At the heart of the story lies the moral complexity of what constitutes salvation. His ranters run the gamut, from fundamentalist conspiracy theorists to socialist decolonialists he captures with equal accuracy the painful double-bind of being a young white liberal male, and the pathos of mortal decline.

Guterson is at his best here when capturing the wildly various judgments of our moment. In this 'final case,' all of history is on trial, and his character finds himself a witness in the still and silent eye of disturbances now cyclonic in force and scope. 'David Guterson's appropriately nameless main character in The Final Case is a fiction writer at the vortex of a life he can no longer see as linear, heroic, or containable by his old architectures. The Final Case is alive with all the contradictions of our moment, but more than that, it's alive with wisdom that this novelist has earned.' - Timothy Egan, author of National Book Award winner The Worst Hard Time 'With empathy as deep as Puget Sound and his usual graceful prose, Guterson does a masterful job of showing a father facing his last big challenge in life and the son whose love of him is much more than filial duty. Needfully discomfiting.' - Kirkus Reviews (starred review) 'A bestselling author explores art, justice, and grief as he questions what makes a story true.The author subverts expectations over and over again.a gentle acknowledgement of our collective precarity.

With its simple message of hope, this novel will linger with readers long after the final page.' - Publishers Weekly (starred review) Guterson sensitively explores religion, white privilege, and justice while examining with realism and empathy the bond between parents and their children. ' outstanding literary thriller.Equal parts philosophical, humane, and self-deprecating, it powerfully speaks to the ineffable contradiction of living a meaningful life.

David guterson