Novel
The Sin Eater
How far would you go to save your child?
What if Child Protective Services knocked on your door late one evening and threatened to take your child, based on a complaint from your new nanny?
Adam Grammaticus is a high-tech executive in Portland, Oregon, who grew up in a trailer park on the wrong side of town, but now lives the good life with his wife Kate and daughter Emma in Lake Oswego. When CPS shows up at his door one night, Adam has to fight back shock waves upon hearing the incredible—and false—allegations against him. Later, when he becomes the prime suspect in a murder, CPS returns to take Emma and Adam becomes frantic.
He turns for help to his best friend Tugg Morgan—an ex-military, Harley-riding drifter, who’s trying to outrun his own dark past, including a fatal secret that he and Adam have kept since childhood. Adam and Tugg escape to the open road, where they embark on a journey to find Emma…..and make everyone pay who had anything to do with this. They’re in Tugg’s world now: a world of outlaw bikers, risky choices, and brutal justice, which eventually leads them to a vast conspiracy that explains what happened to Emma, even while it threatens to remove Adam from her life forever.
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Praise for The Sin Eater
“Lee McIntyre’s riveting debut novel harnesses the raw emotional power of a father searching for his daughter to fuel a gripping thrill-ride through two very different worlds: a harsh and lawless biker subculture and an equally harsh and lawless state bureaucracy. The relationship at the story’s heart—a male friendship forged in violence, secrecy, and honor—becomes the key to unlocking both treacherous worlds as the mystery deepens, twists, and finally explodes in a climax you won’t see coming. Ingenious plot, crystal clear prose, and motorcycles blowing across the Pacific Northwest. Who could ask for more?”
—Elisabeth Elo, author of Finding Katarina M. and North Of Boston
“Buckle up and prepare for a wild and unexpected ride. This unique and exciting road-trip thriller, with a twist around every corner, tests a loving father’s determination and pushes family devotion to the limit. At once both gritty and heartbreaking, this page turner will surprise you—and has important things to say not only about corruption and greed, but the price of loyalty, and what it means to be a family.”
—Hank Phillippi Ryan, Nationally best selling and award-winning author of The Murder List
“Lee McIntyre’s The Sin Eater is compulsively readable. Think: Easy Rider meets The Fugitive, with more than a few utterly original twists and a mind-bending take on sin and culpability.”
—Hallie Ephron, NY Times bestselling author of Careful What You Wish For
“A terrific debut! McIntyre ratchets up the suspense and takes us on a thrill ride that plumbs the depths of the human soul. How far would you go to protect your child? A smart, sophisticated thriller that will engage your brain even as it scares the hell out of you.”
—Gary Braver, Bestselling and award-winning author of Elixir and Tunnel Vision
“Lee McIntyre deftly navigates the gray areas between justice and the law. Hard-charging, harrowing, and ultimately hopeful, The Sin Eater is a powerful debut.”
—Joseph Finder, New York Times bestselling author of Judgment
“A stunning debut. I couldn’t put it down. You’re going to wish you had a Tugg Morgan in your life.”
—Chris Mooney, International Bestselling Author of The Missing and the Darby McCormick series
“Whip-crack pacing, an ingenious premise, and memorable characters are expertly interwoven in Lee McIntyre’s propulsive debut thriller. The Sin Eater takes the reader on a hair-raising journey into the darkest heart of terror and mines the depths of the human condition in a way only a trained philosopher like McIntyre can bring to the page. Lee is a writer to watch!”
—Daniel Palmer, USA Today bestselling author of Trauma and The First Family
“No one ever said life was fair—a lesson Adam Grammaticus and his lifelong buddy Tugg Morgan learned early and violently. In his debut novel, philosopher Lee McIntyre poses a series of questions that command our attention. If, like Adam, the powers that be maneuvered to take our good name, (legally) seize our child, jeopardize our marriage, ruin our job prospects and turn us into an outlaw, would we fight to preserve what we love? With Tugg’s help, Grammaticus does and McIntyre straps us in for a wild ride. A page turner! I read it in two sittings. ”
—Len Rosen, Award-winning author of the Henri Poincare novels and The Kortelisy Escape
“The Sin Eater rockets us from the idyllic world of Lake Oswego suburban bliss to a rollicking fever dream of skinheads, bikers, and social workers. Lee McIntyre’s unbridled storytelling is mesmerizing as is his use of the full range of Oregon’s geography and culture.”
—Ray Daniel, awarding-winning author of the Tucker mysteries
“A high octane roller coaster ride that will keep you guessing until the very end.”
—Walt Gragg, Best Book Award-winning author of The Red Line and The Chosen One
“Frighteningly plausible, swiftly paced, and laden with suspense.”
—Kirkus Reviews (Read full review)