Cold in July — Joe R. Lansdale

When Richard Dane shoots and kills a burglar in his living room in the middle of the night, there's no doubt it's self-defense. But the death of the intruder, a small-time punk, ignites a bizarre chain of events.

It starts when the thief's father, Ben Russel, a hardened ex-con, threatens to take an eye for an eye by slaying Dane's son. Then the chain twists again, shattering all expectations and throwing Dane and Russel into a violent race without rules. And toward a strange and grisly, dark and inevitable truth ...