Nine years after he left Shilo, New Hampshire, former Navy SEAL Tom Hawkins has moved back. It’s not an auspicious homecoming. Tom has returned to raise his teenage daughter, Jill, following the murder of his ex-wife, Kelly. Despite Tom’s efforts to stay close to Jill by coaching her high school soccer team, Kelly’s bitterness fractured their relationship. But together, they are on the mend, and life in Shilo is starting to shape up into something approaching normal.
Normal doesn’t last long. Shilo’s police sergeant makes it clear that Tom is his chief suspect in Kelly’s death. In the days that follow, an anonymous blog post alleges that Coach Hawkins is sleeping with one of his players, Internet rumors escalate, and incriminating evidence surfaces on Tom’s own computer and cell phone. Soon the FBI and police are investigating Tom for what appears to be a very disturbing and unprecedented series of crimes.
Someone is out to frame Tom—someone capable of destroying everything he loves without laying a finger on him. As he races to prove his innocence, he must unravel a tangle of lies about his family, the friends and colleagues he thought he knew, and about his past. For deep amid the secrets he’s been keeping—from a troubled tour of duty to the reason for his ex-wife’s death—is the truth that someone will gladly kill to protect.…
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"Tom Hawkins is the hometown hero and soccer coach for the State Champion Shilo High School Wildcats Varsity team. In the ten-year estrangement from his ex-wife Kelly, Tom has had only two purposes in life. To rebuild the relationship he once had with his now teenaged daughter Jill, a hard fought mission in its own right as Kelly is determined to continue her assignment to degrade him at every turn, and coach his teams to victory. His success with the soccer teams is noteworthy, a continuous stream of championship titles; his success with Jill not so much. A strange turn of events (of which Tom chooses not to question), finds him now coaching Jill as a member of the girls team. The chance for his dream of reconciliation allowing Tom to be the full-fledged father he should be looms on the horizon. Although his newly forged relationship with Jill, strained at best, Tom fears the ominous arrival of a police car at practice will shatter all hopes for the future. An exemplary career as a Navy Seal is of no use to Tom as he finds himself embroiled in an investigation whose evidence, although circumspect, even his hard fought skills cannot assist in proving his innocence. As the lead suspect in a tragic murder and rumors of impropriety abound Tom is helpless to save himself. People Tom thought were his friends now turn their backs on him, driving Tom in desperation to turn to an old teammate who is now an attorney. With Tom’s tenuous relationship with his daughter, Jill on the line along with his reputation, fear that the long-kept secret he has shared with no one is about to surface putting an end to everything he is."
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Kathy (4 out of 5 stars)