In the middle of the night, in war-torn Rwanda, journalist Roland Keene leaves his hotel to go off and find armed rebels to interview. Some would call it a suicide mission. Roland would agree.
What brings him to chase his final “bullet” story, the one that would cement his legacy and likely get him killed in the process is a story of ambition and betrayal. Keene starts at the bottom, living paycheck to paycheck in Chicago, running from the bookie he owes this and next month’s rent to, and trying to make his mark at one of the great papers of his shining city. With no big breaks coming his way, though, Keene decides to make his own. He orchestrates a robbery that turns into a high-profile murder, and his role as a “white knight” gets him favor with the victim’s father, and a foot in the door of the newsroom. Now immersed in the cutthroat world of investigative journalism, he breaks a story of citywide corruption, but also starts accumulating powerful enemies among his colleagues.
Keene discovers himself on the run from his own actions, hounded by the people he betrayed on his way to the front page. What will happen to the great Roland Keene if his crimes are revealed, and to what lengths will he go to ensure his secrets never see the light of day?
All three of the boys knew Richard was dead.
His limp form lay at their feet in silence, his eyes wide and unblinking, and his left hand waving an eerie goodbye as the river tugged at his arm in a regular, unsettling rhythm. They stood in a loose semicircle, their wet clothes dripping and making small spattering sounds on the bank, watching for something to happen but knowing nothing would.
Nate must travel back to the clearing, back to the world as it was when he was twelve and to the moment when his childhood was cut suddenly and brutally short. To survive the collapse of his personal and professional worlds means tearing open another, and threatening to expose wicked secrets long held by the island's powerful elite.
Discover what else waits in the quiet shadows of the old estate, biding its time, as it has generation after generation... but on a "walkin' night", close the windows and beware its sorrowful song.
A companion reader to "The Clearing", the novella "And With the Shadow People Be" is a stand-alone tale that ads to the richness and lore of that mysterious Caribbean island.
