LIFER
coming June 10, 2025
Using his experience as a criminal defense attorney, John Rhea crafts a powerful debut novel about the complexities of family, relationships, morality, and justice. Lifer is the chronicle of one man’s crime and punishment, guilt and reckoning.
Lifer is the story of Jack Merritt, a South Carolina lawyer serving a life sentence for murder. He blames his current circumstances on his reckless yet charismatic older cousin Gil Hampton. Through flashbacks from Jack’s life, we relive the chaotic events culminating in the unthinkable crime, as well as his and Gil’s dramatic trial and conviction. Jack, nicknamed Counselor, attempts to survive the perils and despair of incarceration by befriending some of his fellow inmates (Easy Ed, Booker, Panic, Torch), the guards (Hawk, Troll), and the prison chaplain, Miguel (the Padre). As tensions build and a conflict with another group of inmates—the Skinheads—escalates, the reader is drawn into the treacherous world of a maximum security prison.
Rhea’s novel is a cautionary tale about the dangerous intersection of family loyalty and rivalry. It reminds us that nothing is certain and that any one of us could be a couple of bad decisions away from ruining our lives and the lives of those we love.
Given the wrong circumstances, anyone is capable of anything.
Praise for LIFER
“Using his experience as a former defense lawyer, John Rhea gives his reader a vivid, at times visceral, depiction of one man’s attempt to survive the perils of both prison life and family loyalties. The novel’s engaging characters, pitch-perfect dialogue, and memorable scenes all build toward the book’s stunning conclusion. Rhea is a gifted novelist, and Lifer is a worthy contribution to North Carolina’s rich literary tradition.”
—Ron Rash, author of Serena and The Caretaker
“In John Rhea’s gripping debut novel, we follow attorney Jackson Merritt who finds himself sentenced to life in prison for murder—an act born of poor choices and misguided allegiance to his charismatic, older cousin Gil. Jackson navigates the harsh realities of incarceration while forging bonds with fellow inmates and guards alike as well as making dangerous enemies with the prison’s skinheads. Through these relationships he confronts his own morality and the complexities of justice. The author deftly explores themes of redemption, survival, and the intricate human connections that can flourish even in the darkest of places. With its rich character development and thought-provoking narrative, Lifer offers a powerful reflection on the choices we make and the paths we take. A compelling read that captivates and resonates long after its final, gut-punching sentence.”
—Michel Stone, author of The Iguana Tree and Border Child
“I was so impressed when I read early pages of what would become John Rhea’s magnificent novel Lifer, my only advice to him was to finish the thing. Now, to reader’s great good fortune he has done just that. The result is a powerful, deeply empathetic and wholly engrossing portrait of a world few of us know. The story is told through the eyes of Jack Merritt, a lawyer serving a life sentence in a South Carolina prison for murder. Jack’s intelligence, his sophisticated language, his humor and his empathy contrast with the grim, treacherous world of a state prison in a way that creates an unsettling, wholly absorbing dissonance that will keep the reader enthralled.”
—Tommy Hays, author of The Pleasure Was Mine