by Joe Clifford
First published 2013
Colin Specter once had a future as a singer at The Lone Palm nightclub in Bay City. That ended when he fell for Zoey, a stripper who belonged to Gabriel Christos, son of crime boss Cephalus "the Old Man" Christos. Gabriel destroyed Colin's voice and framed him for a crime that sent him to prison for seven years. Now Colin is out, and the Christos family forces him to work for them again. The crime empire has split apart. The Old Man has moved into pharmaceuticals and politics while Gabriel operates from the streets. Father and son wage war across the rain-soaked city. Colin teams up with a fallen journalist to investigate his former captors and search for Zoey. He discovers that everyone he trusted had secrets, and the woman he loved may not be who he thought she was. In this alternative Bay Area underworld, Colin must navigate between two enemies who both want to use him, knowing that his survival depends on uncovering truths that powerful people killed to hide.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, thriller
Vibes: dark, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Bay City, Bay Area
Period: contemporary
269 pages · Paperback · Createspace Independent Pub
Content warnings: violence