by John Hart
First published 2021
Gibby wants to reconnect with his older brother Jason, a decorated Vietnam veteran who spent three years in prison after returning from war. Jason takes Gibby to a lake with two older women for a day of drinking and sunshine. When they encounter a prison bus on an empty road, one woman drunkenly taunts the prisoners and triggers a riot. Hours later, someone murders her brutally. Police immediately suspect Jason because of his violent past. When the second woman gets kidnapped, suspicion falls on Gibby too. Determined to clear Jason's name, Gibby dodges the cops and plunges into his brother's secret world of heroin dealers, guns, and motorcycle gangs. His investigation uncovers not just the killer's identity but the truth about what happened to Jason in Vietnam, why someone framed him, and why a dangerous enemy wants him back behind bars. The search forces Gibby to confront how war and prison marked his brother forever.
Genres: fiction, mystery, crime, thriller
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Vietnam
Period: Vietnam War
Audio CD · Macmillan Audio
Content warnings: addiction, drug-use, violence