Dave Wertz is undergoing a middle-aged crisis. On the back side of fifty with no job and an unhappy marriage, he pulls a Kerouac and goes on the road, and back to his hometown of Frankfort, Kentucky. Dave hopes familiar surroundings and a childhood friend can help him find a sense of safety and belonging. Instead, he stumbles into a state government corruption scandal, meets a cast of strange characters who haunt the streets of Frankfort, and stumbles across Jennifer, a lost, teenage girl who needs help, but won't listen to him. Dave's old friend is not the man he remembered and his hometown has changed. Danger seems to lurk down every alley, and every step he takes seems to lead him deeper into darkness. To find himself and help Jennifer, Dave will have to call on all his skills, and some strange, new friends.

Chris Helvey's short stories have been published by numerous reviews and journals, and he is the author of the novels Yard Man and Dancing On The Rim (Wings ePress), Snapshot, and Whose Name I Did Not Know, plus the short story collections One More Round and Claw Hammer. He currently serves as Editor in Chief of Trajectory Journal.