Broken GroundJay Porter Novel #4
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Jay Porter Takes on the Brutality of Small-town Political Power and Insatiable Greed
At an AA meeting, handyman and part-time investigator Jay Porter meets a recovering addict who needs his help. In the midst of another grueling northern New Hampshire winter, Amy Lupus’ younger sister, Emily, has gone missing from the Coos County Center, the newly opened rehab run by Jay’s old nemeses, Adam and Michael Lombardi.
As Jay begins looking into Emily’s disappearance, he finds that all who knew Emily swear that she’s never used drugs. She’s a straight shooter and an intern at a newspaper investigating the Center and the horrendous secret hidden in it—or beneath it.
When Jay learns of a “missing” hard drive, he is flung back to five years ago when his own junkie brother, Chris, found a hard drive belonging to Lombardi Construction. For years Jay assumed that the much-sought-after hard drive contained incriminating photos of Adam and Michael’s father, which contributed to Chris’ death. But now he believes the hard drive harbored a secret far more sinister, which the missing Lupus sister may have unwittingly discovered.
The deeper Jay digs, the more poisoned the ground gets, and the two cases become one, yielding a toxic truth with local fallout—and far-reaching ramifications.
Praise
“An estate recycler picks up the fragments of his life by helping others to pick up theirs. What a brilliant noir concept. And Broken Ground, the newest addition to the terrific Jay Porter series, has brilliant writing to match . . . The depth of the characters. The vividness of the New Hampshire winter setting. The importance of the novel's theme. Joe Clifford’s a crime writer to pay attention to.” —David Morrell, New York Times best-selling author
“Joe Clifford's latest in the Jay Porter series is a tense, emotional tour de force ferried along on a mystery that's both timely and chilling. Don't miss this!” —Jamie Mason, author of Three Graves Full
“Clifford's edgy prose and masterful pacing, combined with flawed and profoundly human Jay Porter at the helm, make Broken Ground irresistible.” —Wendy Walker, author of Emma in the Night
“Joe Clifford writes with empathy, wisdom, and wicked wit about characters at the edge of society, sobriety, and their own tenuous sanity. Broken Ground is a feast, and Jay Porter is a unique noir hero who shines brightly in a dark world.” —Nick Petrie, author of Light It Up
