by Joe Clifford
First published 2019
Kyle Gill lives with his cousin Deke in Dormundt, a remote Northern California town. When Kyle returns home after weeks of skipping school, he finds Deke and Jimmy holding one hundred pounds of abandoned marijuana. They arrange a sale at the Skunk Train Inn, but the buyers are corrupt police officers. The deal explodes into violence. Deke dies in the shootout and Kyle escapes with the cash in Jimmy's truck. He drives to San Francisco searching for his Hollywood director father, whom he has never met. There he meets Lizzie Decker, a rich high school student whose father faces embezzlement charges. Kyle and Lizzie team up and head south toward Los Angeles. Jimmy wants his money back. The dirty cops hunt them. A Mexican cartel joins the chase. A third detective tries to solve the motel murders and connect the pieces. Kyle and Lizzie race through California's marijuana underworld while Kyle struggles to reach his father and escape the violence that killed Deke.
Genres: fiction, adventure, crime, contemporary, action
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Dormundt, California, San Francisco, Los Angeles
Period: contemporary
248 pages · Paperback · Down & Out Books
Content warnings: drug-use, graphic-violence, murder