Running From the Past

After selling his company for millions, Colby Walker takes his family—and his son’s friend Jess—on vacation, wanting nothing more than to unwind in the sun and surf. But he spots the alarming signs in short order: Jess’s downcast eyes, a familiar passivity, and angry red welts marching across the boy’s bare back. Walker understands what they mean because he’d been that boy, many years ago. He’d suffered in silence, too.

Can Walker stand by and let the torment continue? Does he trust the authorities—the same ones who had failed him in his youth—to take care of Jess? Hell no. With Jess in tow, Walker packs up the minivan and takes his family on the lam, keeping one step ahead of Jess’s cruel father and unhinged ex-con aunt.

When the stakes escalate and his headstrong actions put people’s lives in jeopardy, Walker must finally conquer his past before he can save those he loves. He can run no longer.

Before Alan stepped off the corporate merry-go-round, he had an eclectic (some might say disjointed) career. As an engineer, he worked on nuclear submarines, supervised assembly workers in factories, facilitated technology transfer from the Star Wars program, and learned to stack washing machines three high in a warehouse with a forklift. He even started his own recycling and waste reduction newsletter business. Now he writes fiction. Alan is the author of the Agatha-nominated DIAMONDS FOR THE DEAD. He also wrote KILLER ROUTINE and DEADLY CAMPAIGN in the Last Laff Mystery Series. As Zak Allen, he's written THE TASTE, FIRST TIME KILLER, and RIDE-ALONG.