After the Lights Go Out

John Vercher

Jun 2022 · Highbridge Audio · Narrated by Sean Crisden

About this audiobook

Xavier "Scarecrow" Wallace, a mixed-race MMA fighter on the wrong side of thirty, is facing the fight of his life. Xavier can no longer deny he is losing his battle with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), or pugilistic dementia. Through the fog of memory loss, migraines, and paranoia, Xavier does his best to stay in shape by training at the Philadelphia gym owned by his cousin-cum-manager, Shot, a retired champion boxer to whom Xavier owes an unpayable debt. Xavier makes ends meet while he waits for the call that will reinstate him after a year-long suspension by teaching youth classes at Shot's gym and by living rent-free in the house of his white father, whom Xavier was forced to commit to a nursing home. The progress of Sam Wallace's end-stage Alzheimer's has revealed his latent racism, and Xavier finally gains insight into why his Black mother left the family years ago. Then Xavier is offered a chance at redemption: a last-minute high-profile comeback fight. If he can get himself back in the game, he'll be able to clear his name and begin to pay off Shot. With his memory in shreds and his life crumbling around him, can Xavier hold on to the focus he needs to survive?

About the author

John Vercher's debut novel, Three-Fifths, was named one of the best books of the year by the Chicago Tribune, CrimeReads, and Booklist. It was also nominated for the Edgar, Anthony, and Strand Magazine Critics' Awards for Best First Novel. John lives in the Philadelphia area with his wife and two sons.

Sean Crisden is a multitalented actor and an AudioFile Earphones Award-winning narrator who has recorded audiobooks in almost every genre, from science fiction to romance. He has also voiced characters in numerous video games and appeared in many commercials and films, including The Last Airbender.