American Crow

“A historical horror that packs an emotional wallop.” —Molly Odintz, CrimeReads

“Charged with poetic intensity … An entertaining horror novel with a streak of nostalgia for post-WWII domestic dramas.” —Kirkus Reviews

“American Crow weaves a rich tapestry of history, mystery, and magic. In the story of Brookshire, Ryan Burruss captures a uniquely American malaise, where the memory of war and the promise of peace and prosperity keep uneasy company—and quiet suburban streets and tidy suburban homes are never quite what they seem. This resonates powerfully in 2026: at once tragically familiar and utterly unique.” —M. L. Rio, bestselling author of Hot Wax

“An ambitious and mysterious novel about love, loss, and community, Ryan Burruss’s American Crow digs beneath the troubled surface of a town haunted by the dark spectres of violence and war. Burruss is a tremendous talent—his prose sings and dances, throws off sparks, flashes out bolts of bright lightning. He skillfully digs into his many characters’ hearts and minds with delicacy, insight, and a deep wellspring of empathy. What a terrific debut!” —Dino Enrique Piacentini, author of Invasion of the Daffodils

“From its shocking prologue to its inexorable conclusion, American Crow examines an America of veterans and war widows haunted by a violent past bleeding through the present. It is a post-war world in which each character is a riddle seeking to be solved, even if the solution is sometimes savage.” —John Biguenet, author of Oyster and The Torturer’s Apprentice

“With a poet’s eye for the darkness of humanity, Burruss has written a stylized noir that delivers on surprise and intrigue. In this layered tableau of postwar suburbia, American Crow tells an intricate tale of horror and desire where the townspeople of Brookshire, Maryland are haunted—veterans by the war, wives by their husbands, everyone by the past. Written with passion and intelligence, this debut aims high and exceeds expectations.” —Blake Sanz, author of The Boundaries of Their Dwelling

Ryan Burruss has enjoyed fiction bylines in Prairie Schooner, The Carolina Quarterly, Whiskey Island Magazine, and New Orleans Review, among many others. A native of the East Coast, Ryan now resides on Colorado’s Front Range. He is a participating member of the Lighthouse Writers Workshop.

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