Featuring sixteen gripping short stories inspired by true events, this fiction collection delves deeply into the psyches of the most heroic and the most damaged among us as its characters struggle to hold their ground against the world’s cruelty.

Standout stories include: a cook defending his threatened honor on a tropical island (The Low Season); a police officer trying to explain the evil in the world, and in himself (When We Ate Faces); a daughter reflecting on a lifetime of living in the shadow of her missing sister (Aflame); a father facing the consequences of his son’s inexplicable illness (Sleepwalking); a murder defendant searching for his own motive (Stand Your Ground); and a prosecutor trying to make sense of a senseless tragedy (Coyote).