Description: Longlisted for the 2026 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in FictionFinalist for the Willie Morris Awards for Southern FictionOne of USA Today's 15 Books You Should Read This SummerOne of Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Hot New Summer ReadsOne of People's Most Anticipated Summer BooksOne of Lit Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2025A Late Show Book Club pickThe riveting new novel by the author of the 2021 National Book Award winner and bestseller Hell of a BookPeople Like Us is Jason Mott's electric new novel. It is not memoir, yet it has deeply personal connections to Jason's life. And while rooted in reality, it explodes with dreamlike experiences that pull a reader in and don't let go, from the ability to time travel to sightings of sea monsters and peacocks, and feelings of love and memory so real they hurt.In People Like Us, two Black writers are trying to find peace and belonging in a world that is riven with gun violence. One is on a global book tour after a big prize win; the other is set to give a speech at a school that has suffered a shooting. And as their two storylines merge, truths and antics abound in equal measure: characters drink booze out of an award trophy; menaces lurk in the shadows; tiny French cars putter around the countryside; handguns seem to hover in the air; and dreams endure against all odds.People Like Us is wickedly funny and achingly sad all at once. It is an utter triumph bursting with larger-than-life characters who deliver a very real take on our world. This book contains characters experiencing deep loss and longing; it also is buoyed by riotous humor and characters who share the deepest love. It is the newest creation of a writer whose work amazes, delivering something utterly new yet instantly recognizable as a Jason Mott novel. Finishing the novel will leave you absolutely breathless and, at the same time, utterly filled with joy for life, changed forever by characters who are people like us.
Brief description: JD Jackson is a theater professor, aspiring stage director, and award-winning audiobook narrator. A classically trained actor, his television and film credits include roles on House, ER, Law & Order, Hack, Sherrybaby, Diary of a City Priest, and Lucky Number Slevin. The recipient of several audiobook awards for narration and an Odyssey Honor for G. Neri's Ghetto Cowboy, JD has also been named one of AudioFile magazine's Best Voices of the Year for 2012 and 2013.
Review Quotes:
"This account of two Black writers makes for a memorable audiobook. Both narrators are masters of cadence and pace. The unnamed first-person protagonist [is] portrayed expressively by Golden Voice Narrator JD Jackson...Ronald Peet eloquently portrays the writer Soot...In an autobiographical endnote, Mott reveals the novel's backstories. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award for Narration."
-- "AudioFile"