by Ace Atkins
Part of Spenser, book 43
First published 2015
Seventeen-year-old Dillon Yates creates a fake Twitter account mocking his vice principal as a harmless joke. The prank backfires spectacularly when criminal charges land him in a juvenile lockdown facility in Blackburn, Massachusetts. His mother watches other local kids receive harsh sentences for trivial offenses and suspects something corrupt behind Judge Joe Scali's zero tolerance crusade. She hires Boston private investigator Spenser to dig deeper. Spenser and his partner Hawk trace connections from the Harbor Islands to a gated Florida community, following money trails through Boston's criminal underworld. Their investigation reveals a shadowy corporation profiting from New England's private prison system. The detective duo uncovers systematic corruption in the old mill town, where hundreds of children are funneled into for-profit juvenile detention centers. Spenser must expose the conspiracy exploiting vulnerable kids while navigating dangerous players who profit from harsh justice.
Genres: mystery, crime, detective, political-thriller
Vibes: dark, fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: conspiracy, corruption, expose, social-commentary
Setting: Blackburn, Boston, Florida, Harbor Islands, Massachusetts
Period: Contemporary
304 pages · Hardcover · G.P. Putnam's Sons
Content warnings: child-abuse