About the book

Set in the immediate aftermath of World War II, this drama centers on Joe Keller, a successful manufacturer who escaped conviction for shipping defective airplane cylinder heads that caused the deaths of twenty-one pilots. While Joe focuses on his business and his surviving son, Chris, his wife Kate refuses to accept that their other son, Larry, is dead. The narrative tightens when Chris announces his intention to marry Larry’s former fiancée, Ann Deever, triggering a sequence of confrontations that unmask Joe’s past decisions and legal deceptions.

This work attracts readers interested in legal accountability and the tension between private loyalty and public duty. Those who study the ethics of wartime profiteering or the collapse of the nuclear family unit will find a clinical look at how repressed guilt eventually destroys domestic security. Readers finish the book with a clear understanding of the social cost of individualism and the psychological mechanics used to justify professional misconduct at the expense of human life.

Reading profile

Deep and thought-provoking; a moderate read.

Best for readers like The Deep Diver. Which reader are you?

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