The End of the Road

Written by Robert S. Levine

Narrated by Joshua Saxon

Myles's courtroom testimony should have put Pryor, their one-eyed ringleader, behind bars after the bank robbery gone wrong, yet somehow Pryor got off scot-free while Myles served time. Now, upon his release, Myles decides he is done with his life of wrongdoing—a change that will only be possible if he can kill Pryor and turn over a new leaf. Pryor has other ideas, and the collision between these two deadly forces soon leaves the ex-con in critical condition, clinging to life in a hospital bed.



With Myles in recovery, it's up to his girlfriend Penny to avenge her lover and salvage their chance at normalcy. As Pryor and his cronies prepare for their biggest score yet—targeting a vulnerable small-town Ohio bank on a day when Amish farmers arrive with hefty cash deposits—Penny is hot on their heels. But is she prepared for the carnage Pryor will gleefully wreak on the path to his prize?



With characters as sharply drawn as those in a Dennis Lehane novel and a rich Midwestern setting, The End of the Road is a fast-paced rural noir that announces Andrew Welsh-Huggins as one of the most powerful voices in the mystery world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Highbridge Company
• Release date: May 16, 2023
• ISBN: 9781696611763

Robert S. Levine

Robert S. Levine is professor of English at the University of Maryland and author or editor of eleven books, including Martin Delany, Frederick Douglass, and the Politics of Representative Identity and Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, Dred (both from the University of North Carolina Press).

Reviews for The End of the Road

[sturlington_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a noir thriller set in rural Ohio about a very bad guy and a woman who wants him out of her family's life. Was this as well written as the last Midwestern noir book I read, The Houseboat? I'd stay that stylistically, no, it wasn't. But it had a more compelling story, and the characters seemed more real and fully fleshed out to me. I was particularly caught up in Penny's odyssey as she hunted down Pryor's whereabouts, but the triangle of Penny, the very bad Pryor, and the sheriff's deputy who enters the story in an unexpected way held my attention and kept me reading. So I did think this was a better book, at least if a fast-paced thriller is what you're looking for. There were a couple of bits at the end that seemed a tad heavy-handed, but by that point, those were only minor quibbles.

[diana.hauser · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The End of the Road is written by Andrew Welsh-Huggins. Mr. Welsh-Huggins is a prominent journalist and writer from the Columbus, Ohio area. He is best known (by me!) for his Andy Hayes series (Andy Hayes is a disgraced ex-Ohio State football player turned detective) and his editing of Akashic Books’ Columbus Noir, an anthology series of noir stories from different cities, states, areas, countries around the world. His short story pieces have appeared in numerous crime & mystery magazines.
His piece for Crime Reads, “Seeking Crime Fiction Inspiration from the Odyssey” is so interesting, so wonderful, I have read it over and over again.

The End of the Road is the epitome of Noir. Noir is a genre of crime fiction characterized by cynicism, fatalism and moral ambiguity. Noir features ‘hard-boiled’ (my favorite Noir adjective), cynical characters and extremely bleak and sleazy settings. Dark, brooding, raw - Noir has been described as “Whiskey neat”.
The End of the Road is also inspired by the Odyssey.

Out of prison for one day, Myles is shot by Pryor for refusing to drive in a bank robbery. Myles’s partner, Penny, is desperate - knowing she, Myles and their young son, will never be free of Pryor unless he is dead. Thus begins Penny’s Odyssey of vengeance.

I am a big fan of Mr. Welsh-Huggins’ work. *****