The Unwilling

by John Hart

Book Overview

"We the unwilling, led by the unqualified to kill the unfortunate, die for the ungrateful." --Unknown Soldier

Set in the South at the height of the Vietnam War, The Unwilling combines crime, suspense and searing glimpses into the human mind and soul in New York Times bestselling author John Hart's singular style.

Gibby's older brothers have already been to war. One died there. The other came back misunderstood and hard, a decorated killer now freshly released from a three-year stint in prison.

Jason won't speak of the war or of his time behind bars, but he wants a relationship with the younger brother he hasn't known for years. Determined to make that connection, he coaxes Gibby into a day at the lake: long hours of sunshine and whisky and older women.

But the day turns ugly when the four encounter a prison transfer bus on a stretch of empty road. Beautiful but drunk, one of the women taunts the prisoners, leading to a riot on the bus. The woman finds it funny in the moment, but is savagely murdered soon after.

Given his violent history, suspicion turns first to Jason; but when the second woman is kidnapped, the police suspect Gibby, too. Determined to prove Jason innocent, Gibby must avoid the cops and dive deep into his brother's hidden life, a dark world of heroin, guns and outlaw motorcycle gangs.

What he discovers there is a truth more disturbing than he could have imagined: not just the identity of the killer and the reasons for Tyra's murder, but the forces that shaped his brother in Vietnam, the reason he was framed, and why the most dangerous man alive wants him back in prison.

This is crime fiction at its most raw, an exploration of family and the past, of prison and war and the indelible marks they leave.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1250167728
• ISBN13: 9781250167729
• Release Date: February 2021
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.33 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

War shapes people for good or ill

This book deals with so many serious topics and does a wonderful job with them! There is the French family who lost one son to the Vietnam war and another son to the after effects of that war with drugs and prison time. It starts out with Jason being released from prison and going back to his hometown and reconnecting with the one brother that remained at home (Gibby) smothered by his mother trying to protect the one "good" son that she has left. Unfortunately, secret plans abound and an awful murder is committed to further those plans. That bit was fairly graphic (the description of the murder) and there are several other parts as well. It made for much confusion among the cops trying to solve the case, including Jason and Gibby's father and sent them down the wrong path. This is definitely a thrilling book and I liked it and how it ended where you find out the truth of several things, like Jason's role in the war and how it shaped him. Well written!