Excerpt from The Corruption of Hollis Brown by K. Ancrum, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

"You're such a dumbass, Hollis," Yulia shouted when they got close enough to hear.

"It was James Miller," Annie yelled back. "Hollis won't tell me what he said to him, so I'm sure it was awful. As usual."

Yulia helped Annie shuffle Hollis inside so he could lie across the seats on his stomach. Then she slapped the back of his calf hard.

"Ow! Fuck!"

"Shut up." Yulia slammed the door.

She hopped in the front of the car, turned on the ignition, and squealed out of the parking lot.

"Where are we going?" Hollis griped.

"Urgent care. I heard that James got a scholarship for mixed martial arts. Who knows what he rattled around in there."

"I'm fine, just take me home."

"No!" Annie shouted.

"I'll pay the fucking copay, but you owe me," Yulia snapped. "I don't care if you don't have any money—figure it out."

Hollis stayed miserable and quiet until they pulled in to the urgent care parking lot. Yulia sucked her teeth in disgust as they helped him into one of the waiting room chairs.

Annie settled down beside him while Yulia handled the bill. She plucked at the thread from a hole in his jeans.

Yulia

Even though he had known Annie longer, Yulia was Hollis's best friend. She got him in every way there was to get someone. They just clicked.

Yulia was tall and very dark, like a supermodel. Eyes slender and lionlike, a jaw sharp and glamorous. She dressed like she was going to a casting and didn't let the stares stop her. She took to farm culture in furs and thigh-high tights. The only reason Yulia wasn't the most popular girl in school automatically was because she was the kind of New York chic that small-town people didn't like. Plus, her and her family were the only Nigerian immigrants for miles around.

A trust fund angel like her shouldn't even be in a podunk place like this.

Her pa was a real estate developer who moved their family to town to work on a nearby housing development. They were supposed to have stayed for just a year, but the project was taking longer. All projects near Rose Town did.

So here she was, three years in. Trapped with the rest of them.

Gray

Hollis had nothing fractured and nothing broken, just bruises and burst vessels and shame. Annie and Yulia bundled him home, fast as holy chariot.

Yulia agreed to be paid back in bread and demanded Hollis bake it for her by the end of the week.

Annie helped Hollis into his house and put him to bed. She scraped her acrylic nails across his cheek, soft, while he held himself together.

Hollis watched them leave.

He waited until he heard the sound of Yulia's car peeling out of his driveway to cry.

Rot

Hollis didn't know any other way to be.

He had a temper. Not the kind that makes you lash out at your friends and family. But ... his mouth got away from him. You couldn't be like that when you were like him. It bucked the social order.

He wasn't a loser. But if someone popular asked to copy his homework, he shouldn't just snap "Go away" at them if he didn't want problems. If he missed a shot in gym and one of the jocks called him "butterfingers," he shouldn't whirl on them and ask about their parents' divorce. But he did.

James Miller was tall, blond, popular, and had about fifty pounds of muscle on Hollis.

Hollis told him he was going to die in this town.

No one's parents had much money for college, very few people figured out how to leave, but James was trying and trying hard. Punching Hollis into a brick wall a few times was the correct response to hearing his greatest fear tossed right in his face.

Annie was right, he was an asshole.

Not to her and Yulia, of course, but the fact remained.

Hollis turned on his side and coughed hard. He swallowed his own blood, wiped his tears on his sheets.

Excerpted from The Corruption of Hollis Brown by K. Ancrum. Copyright © 2025 by K. Ancrum. Excerpted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.