An honest man : a novel
(Book)

When Israel Pike is paroled from prison, he returns to the place he's least welcome, tiny Salvation Point Island. After all, who would trust a man who killed his own father? Israel is driven to root out the evil that he's seen there, backed by an informant deal he made with the state police. Unfortunately, that deal falls short when Israel discovers seven bodies, two of them rival Senate hopefuls, in an unmoored yacht. Meanwhile, 12-year-old Lyman seeks refuge from his father's alcohol-fueled beatings and finds that a terrified, wounded, hatchet-wielding woman has occupied his hideout. Lyman doesn't know where she came from, but he knows her fear too well, and vows to hide her from the "bad men." Israel's power-hungry uncle, the island's only cop, tries to pin the yacht murders on him, and his deal with the state police turns out to be less bulletproof than he'd thought, forcing Israel to unmask the island's trafficking ring sooner rather than later.