The Committee

"The Johns Committee, a real, if lesser-known, McCarthy-esque group active in Florida, hovers over this tense, character-driven novel set in 1958...Watson ably evokes a sense of the McCarthy era's regional impact in this thought-provoking story."

--Publishers Weekly" Watson] does an excellent job of portraying a time, place, and culture without assigning contemporary values where they didn't exist...The dialogue is realistic, and the pacing, especially toward the end, is quick and intense. Any reader wanting a history lesson wrapped in a compelling, believable novel will find much to contemplate here."

--Kirkus Reviews"Whether he's stoking his narrative or letting his mind wander, Watson writes crisp, beautiful prose."

--Booklist"The Committee is a triumph of historical fiction--and a warning from our past. Sterling Watson swiftly and elegantly anchors the reader in an era that many would love to forget, and then reminds us of the humanity within the history. Watson is the rare writer who can address the big ideas--politics and power, love and hate, fear and freedom--without ever losing sight of the characters at the story's heart."

--Michael Koryta, New York Times best-selling author of How It Happened"Sterling Watson is a rare find among writers as he commands all the elements of great fiction, and he continues to prove this with The Committee. In his latest must-read, Watson uses his great skill to shepherd readers back to 1950s Florida and a terrifying time when unchecked power, driven by hatred and prejudice, destroyed lives."

--Lori Roy, Edgar Award-winning author of Gone Too Long"Sterling Watson's The Committee shines a bright light on one of the darkest times in our collective history. This multilayered and complex look at how easy--and terrifying--it is for power and hatred to corrupt is a must-read for anyone who still subscribes to the notion that the 1950s were an idyllic time in American history."

--Greg Herren, author of Survivor's Guilt and Other Stories"Timely and pertinent to today's cultural and political climate, this fictional account of the persecution of gay people by the state in the 1950s reveals a part of Florida's past that sowed prejudice against our community for decades. This is a must-read."

--Gale Massey, author of The Girl from Blind RiverIn the late 1950s, Gainesville, Florida, seems to be a sleepy university town. Its residents live, by outward appearances, ordinary lives. And yet the town is far from ordinary. The most private acts of professors, students, townspeople rich and poor, and politicians are under the close scrutiny of a shadowy group of men--the Committee--who use the powers of government and the police to investigate, threaten, and control this increasingly fearful community.The Committee pits friends against friends and threatens careers and lives in a struggle for the soul of a town, a university, and an ideal. Based on actual historical events and set against the backdrop of political, cultural, and class turmoil, this is a story of love--both licit and hidden--war, friendship, betrayal, compromise, and finally the necessity to stand firm against the encroachments upon freedom by men who believe they are doing God's and the government's righteous work.