In 1987, fourteen-year-old Junius Posey sets out on the cold Cambridge (Mass.) streets to find his brother's killer in a cluster of low-income housing towers--prime drug-dealing territory. After committing a murder to protect his friend, he finds himself without protection from retribution. His mother gives him fifty dollars and instructions to run, but Junius refuses to live a life in hiding. Instead, shocked by the violence he's created and determined to see its consequences, he returns to the towers to complete his original mission.
As Junius, his friend, two drug crews, and the police all move inexorably toward a final confrontation, a series of surprising events and shifting loyalties transforms this day into a bloody turning point that none of them could have foreseen.
Seth Harwood is the author of Jack Wakes Up. He lives in San Francisco.