Cold in July (Paperback) by Joe R. Lansdale

Night. You wake suddenly. Someone's in your house. Is your family safe? You stumble from bed. You must investigate. If you had a gun would you take it? If your life was threatened would you use it? Richard Dane face-to-face with an armed intruder does. With one shot he takes a man's life and changes his own forever. The police say it is a clear-cut case of self-defence - the deceased is a no-account ex-con wanted by the law. No one blames Richard...except the dead man's father who hell-bent on revenge sets his sights on Richard's own four-year-old son. As father is pitted against father both men are inexorably drawn into dangerous territory as small-town secrets peal away to reveal a vile conspiracy that will threaten to devour them both.