Terrapin: A Mystery Hardback - 2012

A professor of engineering by day and a detective writer by night, Cole and the other survivors try to piece together the mysterious fate of their friend. And as they do, more of them die. Are these deaths linked together in some way? How could they be?

The suspenseful story moves back and forth between the unfolding reunion gone bad and the childhood recollections of Dennis, who grew up on the same street as his friends in a small suburb of Detroit. Their working class neighborhood in Terrapin Township is home to many colorful and complex characters, whose interconnected lives create the backdrop to youthful adventures and bittersweet experiences.

Looming largest in the memory of Dennis is the striking character of his widowed father, TA--Marine veteran of the Korean War and blue-collar philosopher. In his interactions with TA, Dennis tries to make sense out of life; but instead of simple answers, puzzling questions of evil, human freedom, and the possibility of transformation are all TA seems to provide. These questions follow Dennis through young adulthood and beyond; they finally catch up to him in the surprising and thrilling climax of this novel.

A murder mystery and a coming of age story, both with many twists and turns, Terrapin is about reconciliation with the dramatic reality of free will--man's potential for doing either good or evil, his tendency to do the latter, and his response to the consequences of his actions.