Tommy Birk

A secretive and influential foundation based in Washington, DC, led by a charismatic charlatan, seeks to bring to fruition an apocalyptic vision of the future based on its extreme religious views. To this end they have placed a "Manchurian candidate" into the political system, one who unbeknownst to them was involved in the rape culture of the Abu Ghraib prison controversy. An emotionally damaged small town lawyer stands in the way of national disaster.

In this unique novel, Tommy Birk evokes the anguish of combat veterans who leave their wars but whose wars don't leave them. He explores their helplessness to stop the strange osmotic process by which their pain passes on to their families. In this passionate and powerful story, Ernie and Gunny Balbach, who had fought on opposite sides during WW2, are now joined by Ernie's son, Timmy-an equally damaged veteran of the still-in-progress Vietnam War-and live as outcasts at Piankashaw Rock, where they feel safe in the company of other misfits. Ernie and Gunny, sustained by the women who love them, and Timmy, in love with the beautiful but conflicted Maria, all prodded by a mystic priest with his own dark secrets, come to realize they and their families will escape the vicious circles of history and find redemption only when they take on and defeat the evil that haunts them.