Literary legend Jim Harrison gives us a brilliant new work that finds him writing at the height of his powers, and in fresh and audacious new directions. The Great Leader is the story of Detective Sunderson, a northern Michigan police detective who has recently retired and has one case he can’t quite shake -- the investigation of a cult leader whom he eventually pursues to Arizona and further afield. Harrison gives readers a unique take on the culture of “Yoopers” (what folks from the rest of Michigan and the Midwest call people from the Upper Peninsula) and cops, in a novel that is wonderfully clever, powerful, and slyly redemptive.

Jim Harrison is the author of more than twenty-five books of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The winner of a National Endowment for the Arts grant and a Guggenheim Fellowship, he has had work published in twenty two languages. He divides his time between Michigan, Montana, and Arizona.

Jim Harrison's profile page

• Commended, Globe and Mail Top 100 Book

There is more wise counsel in the fiction of Jim Harrison than almost anywhere else, expressed through a wry, sardonic smile and a big, bruised heart.

Waterloo Record

Harrison has made Sunderson's world very real and inhabitable and populated with all kinds of fascinating and believable characters. Always a writer's writer, Harrison's novel is a terrific addition to the canon of hard-boiled literature.

HereNB

You can still feel the excitement every time [Jim Harrison] pulls something new out of his ear, which happens on pretty much every page he writes . . . very close to magic.

New York Times

... wonderful ... lovely writing ... it's amazing how much affection the reader can feel, in the end, for Harrison's anti-hero.

Telegraph Journal

Harrison is still writing sentences that make you yearn for more.

Washington Post

The Great Leader is precisely what readers will want reading it to be: enthralling, exhilarating, provocative.

Globe and Mail

The Great Leader has all the hallmarks of a classic Harrison novel -- vigorous prose, startling beauty and wicked humour.

Chronicle Herald

Often dark, in places dryly funny, and surprisingly touching, The Great Leader [is] a true find, worthy of the attention of anyone who loves good and thought-provoking writing.

Toronto Star

Jim Harrison sticks to what he’s best at here: sex, violence and intrigue...a compulsive read...

Coast

... a thoroughly enjoyable tale of religion, sex, and money ... it's a wild ride for an old cop trying to get his life back on track and a great read for the rest of us.

Seattle Times

. . . one of the most memorable tales [from] contemporary master [Jim] Harrison . . .

Kirkus