Gene Gross

It is the peak of tourist season for the Iowa Great Lakes region, but the vibrant resort area is shaken when a retired FBI agent disappears and body parts begin to surface. When the governor asks former federal prosecutor Michael Cain to investigate, Michael peals away, layer by layer, the sordid attempts by a self-anointed criminal mastermind, Bart Farley, to win a casino license for the lakes area.

With his nightclub and oversized excursion boat as a front, Farley schemes to use prostitution to blackmail a member of the state’s gambling commission. But Farley’s plan implodes when a trafficked girl escapes and a second is murdered by his client. Obsessed and with his own life at risk, Farley will stop at nothing, not assassination, human trafficking, blackmail, nor multiple murders, to achieve his goal.

Standing in his way is Michael Cain.

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The Iowa Lakes region is home to deep blue lakes, summer resorts, and a respectable community with families going back generations. But this idyllic image is shattered one night when a fisherman draws in a net with the body of local darling Virginia Lawrey. Seasoned prosecutor Michael Cain with his unrelenting thirst for justice soon gets drawn deep into the investigation. Haunted by his own past, Michael is forced to confront his own ghosts and those of his hometown—someone close has aligned themselves with the devil. Can Michael redeem himself and find the culprit before more lives are lost—including his own?