An “extraordinary first novel” about a father trying to escape the past and a son lost in a world of imaginary voices—winner of the Mary McCarthy Prize (Booklist). Levi Revel is a boy in danger of losing his family and maybe his mind. He’s in awe of his father, Everest—a majestic dreamer, a master builder, a man with a violent, secret past. As the family moves from state to state, Levi hears solace in the voice of God, a voice that sends him preaching from treetops and roofs. But as the family begins to fall apart and Levi enters adolescence, he starts to hear more troubling things. When Everest takes him on a high-speed, cross-country chase to win back Levi’s mother—by force if necessary—Levi realizes how much danger they all are in. Tender and frightening, More Like Not Running Away takes readers across America, through the eyes and ears of a child whose family is haunted by a past they can’t outrun. “Shepherd’s family-in-decline frames an impressive father-son character study.” —Publishers Weekly “This extraordinary first novel about the blood ties that bind fathers and sons packs such emotional power that reading it is like sustaining repeated blows to the heart.” —Booklist “Shepherd is a master craftsman, and the subtlety of his art, the unassuming elegance of its architecture, rendered me spellbound and finally grateful.” —Bob Shacochis, author of The Woman Who Lost Her Soul “A riveting exploration of what it is to be an outsider even in your own head. Shepherd has written a gripping story of childhood angst—psychologically thrilling, lyrically exact.” —Janet Burroway, author of Writing Fiction