Underdog City by Chris Negron

From the acclaimed author of The Last Super Chef and Dan Unmasked comes a heartfelt standalone novel about community, justice, and redemption, perfect for fans of Take Back the Block and Brave Like That.

Mortimer Bray is not okay.

It seems like everything in his life is changing for the worse. After his own much-loved dog dies, he can’t bring himself to carry on with his dog-walking business; there’s a strange new girl who’s moved into the house next door; and suddenly there’s a buzzing feeling of anxiety in his head and heart when he’s faced with something new.

His neighborhood, Townsend Heights, used to feel like the most comfortable place in the world. But lately, it seems like everyone is arguing, and there’s uncertainty around every corner.

The neighborhood's only vacant lot is somehow behind it all, Mortimer is sure of that much. If he can unearth the lot's secret history, he just might stop the Heights from unraveling completely.

Mortimer can’t save Townsend Heights on his own. But when it comes to community, you’re never truly on your own—not as long as you’re willing to learn from the past, in order to do better in the future.

Chris Negron grew up outside Buffalo, New York, where he spent a huge chunk of his childhood collecting comic books and loving sports. But it was the hours of playing Dungeons and Dragons in friends’ basements that first gave him the dream of one day writing his own stories. That dream kept him company through college at Yale University and years of programming computers for big companies. Dan Unmasked is his debut novel, and he now lives outside Atlanta with his wife, Mary. Visit him at www.chrisnegron.com.