Abstract
When childhood best friends Ollie Swanson and Dougie Tarkenen commit larceny, they must keep it secret into their adult lives. Years later, Dougie turns up dead, apparently drowned in a canoe accident. Ollie is devastated. When he discovers that Dougie had made secret tapes that reveal extreme corruption at the highest levels of government, the circumstances around Dougie’s death become highly suspect, and the secret from their youth comes back to haunt Ollie. When Ollie’s life is threatened, he must figure out a way to protect himself and his family. The Fourth Betrayal is a gritty, wry, and masculine exploration of what happens when bureaucratic greed and deception threaten the livelihoods of small coastal communities.