It’s 1980 on Florida’s Gulf coast. Sun, drugs, gambling debts, and dirty deals push Navy-prison parolee, Scotland Ross, deeper into the life of crime he never wanted. His sister’s life, a potential newfound love, and his own freedom are all on the line as he tangles with a redneck gangster intent on becoming the state’s next governor.
Beachhead
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It’s 1980 on Florida’s Gulf coast. Sun, drugs, gambling debts, and dirty deals push Navy-prison parolee, Scotland Ross, deeper into the life of crime he never wanted. His sister’s life, a potential newfound love, and his own freedom are all on the line as he tangles with a redneck gangster intent on becoming the state’s next governor. Will Scotland make the right choice or the one that keeps him alive? Beachhead is dark noir set in the state of sunshine. A story of crime and loyalty, love and hate, and choices made when everything you care about is on the line.
“A great read.”
– Richard Lange, author of Angel Baby and This Wicked World
“Jeffery Hess is masterful at portraying the criminal types, their outlook on the world and the peculiar ways in which they justify their actions…the Florida he paints does not resemble touristy postcards. It’s filled with corruption and pain. Nonetheless, Mr. Hess gives us the kind of ugly that’s addictive.”
– Phil Jason – Florida Weekly
“Jeffery Hess’s Beachhead hearkens back to the work of brilliant twentieth century crime writers like John D. McDonald, and his Scotland Ross is a Travis McGee for this millennium: gratifyingly unvarnished, physically tough,and just naive enough to involve himself in the troubles of other people. An admirable debut.”
-Pinckney Benedict, author of Dogs of God,Miracle Boy, and The Wrecking Yard
“Satisfying, smart, startlingly funny,and always entertaining, Jeffery Hess’s wonderful debut novel is squarely in the tradition of the best of Robert Stone and Elmore Leonard. You will love the hero in this, but the villains are also tantalizingly human and engagingly complex. And the prose is, first to last, riveting and artful.”
-Fred Leebron,author of Welcome to Christiania and Out West
“Jeffery Hess’s BEACHHEAD comes to ground as Navy prison parolee, Scotland Ross, puts his life on hold, and his path to an honest life, to lend help his sister and her struggling family, only to find the hand of help may be more disastrous than no help at all. Hess moors together a compelling story of land grabbing, political aspiration, government graft, and adulterous jealousy that will leave you reeling its wake.”
-Ron Earl Phillips, editor of Shotgun Honey and One Eye Press
“Jeffery Hess’s BEACHHEAD sets a relentless pace with a brutal story of Scotland Ross, dealt a bad hand and determined to go all in. Whether the crimes are of passion, politics, or violence, every minute of this Florida thriller gleams with conflict and character.”
-Steve Weddle, author of Country Hardball