Fadeaway Joe : A Novel

Sixty-four-year-old Joe has known violence his entire life. For forty years, he''s worked as an enforcer for loan shark and close friend Maxie Smith, breaking more than a few bones along the way. When Maxie abruptly fires him, Joe isn''t sure where to lay the blame - on Maxie, the man he once considered his brother, or on the early-onset Alzheimer''s that made Maxie lose faith in him in the first place. To keep his head above water, he begins to operate a food truck that''s barely getting by. Desperate to regain some purpose in his life, Joe makes a life-altering decision: he''s going to take down Maxie Smith by any means necessary, once and for all. However, his plan of revenge is side-lined when he meets twenty-two-year-old Paula Jessup, a wise-cracking amateur detective with a few scheming cards up her sleeve, who''s on the run from a trafficking ring she''s been investigating. The two form an unlikely bond: Paula needs some protection and Joe needs a purpose. With the stakes running high and the clock ticking down - will this gamble pay off?