One Big Killing: A Novel

Dennis lost his job at Corridor Press in June 1983. A new publication failed without leaving the building, causing cuts across the board. Once let go, Dennis learned that finding a new job in publishing was close to impossible, especially in Williamstown, PA. After two years of trying, his unemployment checks ran out, forcing him to move to Virginia to live and work for his brother Jim in construction. Life was no better for either of them. Jim barely earned enough to feed his wife Merrill and three kids, with notes on their cars and a mortgage ballooning at exactly the wrong time. Demoralized, the two brothers commiserated by smoking weed and remembering their golden college years, the counterculture, and dreams about academia in their future. Instead, they watched others thrive by cutting corners, especially those providing harmless mood lifts like MaryJane and the magic white powder. Before long, they realized that the good life could come their way if they made just one big deal. One Big Killing follows two brothers entering an unknown world to engineer a single transaction that could stake them to new lives full of promise. To make the most of everything, they resolve to shoot the moon.