In the wake of a mysterious and deadly epidemic in a small post-Civil War Wisconsin community, Jacob Hansen struggles with family loyalties and his faith in his determined efforts to save the town, a quest that is further challenged by erupting violence. Reprint New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year"A new masterpiece of American literature." -Dennis Lehane, Entertainment Weekly"A Prayer for the Dying reads like the amazing, unrelenting love child of Shirley Jackson and Cormac McCarthy. It's twisted proof that God will do worse to test a faithful man than the devil would ever do to punish a sinner." -Chuck PalahniukSet in Friendship, Wisconsin, just after the Civil War, A Prayer for the Dying tells of a horrible epidemic that is suddenly and gruesomely killing the town's residents and setting off a terrifying paranoia. Jacob Hansen, Friendship's sheriff, undertaker, and pastor, is soon overwhelmed by the fear and anguish around him, and his sanity begins to fray. Dark, poetic, and chilling, Stewart O'Nan's A Prayer for the Dying examines the effect of madness and violence on the morality of a once-decent man.