Dan Goodier challenges his readers to consider whether the problems of increasing gun violence and social unrest are any different today, than during the period when Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy were killed. Are we better, worse, or tragically, the same.
As Emmet North and his teenaged friends deal with the loss of one of their cohorts, the town struggles to rehabilitate its image as a good place to spend a summer vacation. Ingenuity and imagination are the mandatory tools of success. A group of common people band together to rebuild Bay City's version of the American Dream and try to overcome the indelible stain left by the murders. The outcome is anything but common.
Occasionally heroes can emerge from the ranks of everyday life. Though he didn't seek out the role, Emmet North is one of many who are thrust into the midst of terrifying events that tear at the very fabric of the life he has known.
The tightly woven story examines the meaning of love, the power of community, and the essence of redemption