As usual, Hart sets his novels in the south, this time North Carolina, and its focus is two brothers, Michael and Julian, orphans, who spend their early years in the Iron House, a violent home for boys in North Carolina. Michael, the stronger of the two, protects his weaker brother Julian when he can but when a bully is killed, Michael flees just as Julian is adopted by a Senator and his wife, Abigail, a victim of child abuse as well. Needless to say, time passes, the brothers lose contact until things change for both. Michael has become the adopted son of a crime boss, his hit man so to speak, and Julian still lives with his parents, a recluse though a writer of children's books. When Michael's benefactor dies, he must flee the revenge of the family. Coincidentally, he has fallen in love with Elena, hopes to change his life, and the two of them flee to North Carolina, in a rain of bullets and shootings. In his flight, he ends up finding his brother, realizes that he is in danger, tries to save him, and in so doing, the connection between the crime boss, the senator, his brother, Abigail, and himself is discovered. The connections are a bit strained as Hart struggles to bring things together. He writes well and I liked the first half but got a little tired as he struggles to bring justice to the 'evi doers' without harming the innocent. A mix of New York, Appalachian and corrupt politics inform this novel. I would give it a B.
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