Godspeed

About the book

'Mesmerising.' The Herald, Best Books to read this summer

'A glorious novel, as lyrical as it is suspenseful - breathless, tense, and shimmering.' STEPH CHA

'My daddy always told me, if it looks too good to be true - then it probably is.'

Bart, Teddy and Cole have been best friends since childhood. Having founded their own small-town construction company, they yearn to build a legacy, something to leave behind to their families. So when Gretchen Connors, a mysterious millionaire lawyer from California, approaches them with a stunning, almost formidable project in the mountains above their town, the three friends convince themselves it's the job which will secure their future.

But what is Gretchen hiding from them? And why does the build have to be complete by Christmas, a near-impossible deadline? With the lines between ambition and greed more slippery and dangerous than the three friends ever imagined, how far will they push themselves and what will be the cost of their dream?

From the author of the international bestseller Shotgun Lovesongs, Godspeed is an unforgettable tale of family, friendship and temptation.

Praise for this book:

"A fast-moving, highly addictive novel of ambition, obsession, and long-festering dreams of the haves and have nots. I loved this book from start to finish and marveled at the expert construction and storytelling." - Ace Atkins

"Godspeed is a page-turning, race-against-the-clock novel about fatal obsession, love, violence, addiction, and faith beautifully set in my home state of Wyoming. After you turn the last page it’ll stay with you for a long, long time." - C J Box

"Not many writers can turn any subject into gold, but Nick Butler is one of them. In Godspeed, he tells the story of three buddies and business partners who get an offer that may be too good to be true. What begins as a construction project full of good work and good cheer soon goes off the rails, with dire consequences. This novel is about addiction, ambition, and America at the crossroads of its own demise, and in Butler’s brilliant, capable hands, it ends up feeling like a lived experience." - Peter Geye

"Set in an American West torn between its pinewood past and marble future, Godspeed is the story of three childhood friends and the construction contract that will make--or break--their lives. What begins as a novel of optimism and ambition morphs into a dark warning about the end-game of American capitalism. With his characteristically rich and transporting prose, Nickolas Butler continues the urgent examination of class and culture he began in his beloved debut, Shotgun Lovesongs." - John Larison

"Is there a novelist writing today more adept at revealing the conflicts in the psyche of the American male than Nickolas Butler? In Godspeed, a novel that moves with the power and velocity of an avalanche, he’s done it again-this time with a tale of men chasing dreams of riches-think The Treasure of Sierra Madre, though in the mountains of the American West-men whose desperation drives them relentlessly toward madness and murder. Butler’s characters, partners in a Wyoming construction company, have agreed to build a woman’s mountainside dream house. If they complete the project by what seems an impossible Christmas deadline, they’ll become wealthy; if they fail, they’ll walk away with nothing. As winter snows bear down on the Tetons, readers won’t be able to turn the pages of Godspeed fast enough." - Larry Watson