Crime, suspense
65,000 words approx
SYNOPSIS
Robert Dawson is good at keeping secrets. He was once a Chief Constable, and is now a senior liaison officer for the Security Service. But Robert's most closely guarded secret has nothing to do with officialdom. This secret concerns two small boys - one from a loving family, the other a victim of unspeakable cruelty - and a perfect crime with perfect consequences. A most beautiful monstrosity.
In the summer of 1957, Robert Dawson befriends Benny Catlin, a sickly, starving boy in constant peril from his deranged father. With the help of Robert and his family, Benny embarks on the tentative process of rebuilding his shattered confidence. He becomes a changed boy, secure and trusting. And in his own tragic way he is also content, resigned to the fact that life will never be perfect, and that the battle for survival is far from over.
But the spectre of his father follows him like a storm cloud. When his beloved mongrel dog is viciously punched to death, Benny Catlin changes again. This time survival is not enough. Only revenge will keep him alive.
The summer of 1957 ends with a murder. A perfect murder. A perfect ending. More than forty years later, Robert Dawson must rake back the leaves and ferns and discover just what is buried four fingers deep in the woods, and in doing so confront what is dark and dangerous in everyone.
FOUR FINGERS DEEP is a disturbing yet ultimately uplifting novel about the human spirit's capacity to hope, survive…and then get even.