In a matter of hours, those poisonous politics invade Hazardโs life in a way he couldnโt have imagined. Glenn Somerset, Somersโs father, shows up on their doorstep, and he wants two things: first, for Hazard to neutralize a blackmail threat; and second, for Somers temporarily to move out of the house he shares with Hazard, part of public relations stunt to win the election. To Hazardโs shock, Somers agrees.
Determined to lose himself in his work, Hazard takes on a missing personโs case, but his investigation only leads him deeper into the tangled web of small-town politics. To find the truth, he must face off with the viciously rich who rule Wahreduaโand with the poor, desperate, and marginalized, who fight just as viciously in their own way.
When Hazardโs investigation uncovers a murder, he is forced to work with Somers to bring the killer to justice, despite their fractured relationship. But the sudden news that Hazardโs father is failing fast threatens to put an untimely end to the caseโand, in doing so, jeopardize Somersโs last-ditch effort to repair his relationship with his own father.
The killer, though, has an accelerating timeline, and in a world of wayward children, every relationship is fraught with hidden dangers.