First published 2024
Ben Davenant's merchant vessel explodes in the South Pacific during wartime. The blast destroys more than his ship. It obliterates his face, erases his fingerprints, and strips away every trace of who he was. Floating in the ocean like debris, Ben gets pulled from the water by rescuers he never wanted. In his hospital bed, he refuses to rebuild his shattered identity. He wants nothing from a world that gave him nothing back. Then a woman with dark hair enters his room. She claims he is her husband. Ben faces a choice he has spent his life avoiding. He must decide who he wants to become. His journey takes him from seedy waterfront dives to the wealthy enclaves of California's coast. Along the way, he searches for something worth caring about in a world that seems determined to survive despite its own absurdity.
Genres: fiction, adventure, mystery, contemporary, thriller
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: identity-crisis, unreliable-narrator
Setting: California, South Pacific
Period: Wartime
368 pages · Paperback · Boiler House Press
Content warnings: violence