Abstract
A dark and suspenseful debut. Detective T.J. Peterson has a problem, and it's not just how much he's drinking or the daily, silent, tormenting video calls from his estranged daughter. A Catholic priest has been bludgeoned to death in church, apparently by a symbol of his faith, and an unidentified woman's body had been found. He's barely holding it together. When a deranged teenager, a possible witness, crosses his path, he is propelled into a sleazy, violent world of underage prostitution, sexual abuse, and human trafficking as he pursues a merciless killer. A stylish and riveting exploration of both the consequences of depravity and the sometimes-extraordinary resilience of the human spirit.