Stroby

Long Branch, Asbury Park, Ocean Grove. The Jersey Shore ain't what it used to be, but ex-state trooper Harry Rane still calls it home. After his wife's death, Harry got careless, got shot, and he left the force. He's a changed man, leads a quiet life, except when it comes to helping his friends...

Now an old buddy of Harry's wants a big favor. He owes ＄50,000 to a Jersey crime boss and needs Harry to get him more time to repay the loan. That sounds like a plan...except for the green-eyed, redheaded complication. The mobster's married to a gorgeous lady who once fell hard for Harry. And history is about to repeat itself.

Trying to help his friend pay off his debt but inexorably drawn to the girl, soon Harry is between a rock and a hard place. His chances of getting up and staying alive look to be about a million to one.... in Wallace Stroby's brooding, blistering debut The Barbed-Wire Kiss.

Wallace Stroby is an editor for the New Jersey Star Ledger and lives in New Jersey. The Barbed-Wire Kiss is his first novel.