In Nomine Patris

Book excerpt: At the peak of his career, Dan Hurley, powerful Chicago politician, master of clout, discovers a conscience, wises up, and comes to regret his life's work running and profiting from a political machine he has come to despise. But he has a plan. Far from the city, on a hill in the country where coyotes howl, he hatches a rebellion to throw a wrench into the machine and salvage his reputation, his son's respect, and what is left of his life. But is it too late? As Dan Hurley discovers, there is danger in rocking the boat and stepping on powerful toes. And help is unlikely from his one son, Billy, prodigal nihilist, who has fled the city for a room above a bar in a lost river town, having written his father and his politics off long ago. But maybe there is hope that Billy might get pulled kicking and screaming back into his father's world to unravel a mystery and take up the mantle of the father he loathes. Only Billy's testimony at trial will determine whether Dan Hurley's dreams of reforming himself, his son, and a corrupt machine will come true.