The Unwilling

Set in the South at the height of the Vietnam War,The Unwilling combines crimesuspense and searing glimpses into the human mind and soul in New York Times bestselling author John Hart’s singular style. Gibby’s older brothers have already been to war. One died there. The other came back misunderstood and harda decorated killer now freshly released from a three-year stint in prison. Jason won’t speak of the war or of his time behind barsbut he wants a relationship with the younger brother he hasn’t known for years. Determined to make that connectionhe coaxes Gibby into a day at the lake: long hours of sunshine and whisky and older women. But the day turns ugly when the four encounter a prison transfer bus on a stretch of empty road. Beautiful but drunkone of the women taunts the prisonersleading to a riot on the bus. The woman finds it funny in the momentbut is savagely murdered soon after. Given his violent historysuspicion turns first to Jason; but when the second woman is kidnappedthe police suspect Gibbytoo. Determined to prove Jason innocentGibby must avoid the cops and dive deep into his brother’s hidden lifea dark world of heroinguns and outlaw motorcycle gangs. What he discovers there is a truth more bleak than he could have imagined: not just the identity of the killer and the reasons for Tyra’s murderbut the forces that shaped his brother in Vietnamthe reason he was framedand why the most dangerous man alive wants him back in prison. This is crime fiction at its most rawan exploration of family and the pastof prison and war and the indelible marks they leave.