Max Freeman blickt auf eine lange Karriere bei der Polizei in Philadelphia zurück - bis eines Abends ein Fall zur Katastrophe wird und er in Notwehr einen Jungen erschießt. Zutiefst erschüttert hängt Freeman seinen Job an den Nagel und zieht sich in die Sumpfgebiete von Florida zurück. Doch auch hier holt ihn das Verbrechen ein und als er bei einer nächtlichen Paddeltour die Leiche eines Jungen findet, wird er selbst schnell zum Verdächtigen und muss auf einmal für seine eigene Freiheit kämpfen.-
Max is back, trawling the trailer parks and waterways of south Florida, where amid the gorgeous beaches and abundant foliage there lies a stunning range of brutality. After Max is hired to investigate a conspiracy involving fake claims to Medicare, he quickly realizes the scheme is much more dangerous than anyone assumed. And when the Brown Man, a former drug kingpin who once helped Max nab a serial killer, reappears in a slick new guise, Max must reclaim his street instincts to protect not just the citizens of south Florida, but also his girlfriend, Detective Sherry Richards - the one person he can't afford to lose.
Max Freeman is seeking refuge from the familiar demons of his former life as a Philadelphia police officer, in his secluded shack deep in the Everglades. But his self-imposed isolation is interrupted when he receives a desperate call from his best friend, attorney Billy Manchester. There has been a recent string of suspicious deaths-all elderly women, all from a poor neighborhood, and all with sizable and recently sold-off insurance policies-which the police have been unable, or unwilling, to investigate. Billy believes something sinister may be at work, and so, to help his friend, Max must reluctantly pry where he's not wanted, and act like the cop he's trying to forget he was ...
"Plenty here to reward the reader: the rapid-fire, gritty dialogue and the charms of our hard-living, earthy hero...satisfying fare."--Publishers Weekly
Max Freeman's old life ended on a night that will haunt him forever. The night he killed a twelve-year-old child in self-defense in a Philadelphia shootout. The night he stopped being a cop. Now he lives a solitary existence on the edge of the Florida Everglades, where he answers to no one but the demons that eat away at his conscience. When he finds the corpse of a child beside an ancient river and another child goes missing, all eyes turn to Freeman. The ex-cop, driven by his old habits and the memories of that long-ago Philadelphia midnight, knows that he has no choice but to hunt down the seemingly unstoppable murderer himself. An electrifying story of crime, punishment, and one man's personal redemption played out against a backdrop of wild natural beauty in conflict with the modern urban world.
