Cold in July

Richard Dane shoots a prowler in his living room one night, and the dead man's father swears revenge, until the two are suddenly forced to become allies

Despite the trappings -- guns, stakeouts, an ex-con, a private eye, a porn ring, a shootout -- this isn't an ordinary suspense novel. It's a lean, effective character study about a man who risks his comfortable life to pursue something half-glimpsed within his psyche. He feels guilty about his father's suicide, he doubts his ability to raise his own son, and now he's mixed up with another father, whose son has gone into a place of great darkness. A stirring tale in which actions have consequences, and no one is left unchanged by the things that they see and do.