The Great Leader
A Faux Mystery

Author Jim Harrison has won international acclaim for his masterful body of work, including over thirty books of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. In his most original work to date, Harrison delivers an enthralling, witty, and expertly crafted novel following one mans hunt for an elusive cult leader, dubbed the Great Leader. On the verge of retirement, Detective Sunderson begins to investigate a hedonistic cult, which has set up camp near his home in Michigans Upper Peninsula. At first, the selfdeclared Great Leader seems merely a harmless oddball, but as Sunderson and his sixteenyearold sidekick dig deeper, they find him more intelligent and sinister than they realized. Recently divorced and frequently pickled in alcohol, Sunderson tracks his quarry from the woods of Michigan to a town in Arizona, filled with criminal bordercrossers, and on to Nebraska, where the Great Leaders most recent recruits have gathered to glorify his questionable religion. But Sundersons demons are also in pursuit of him. Rich with character and humor, The Great Leader is at once a gripping excursion through Americas landscapes and the poignant story of a man grappling with age, lost love, and his own darker nature.