In this Gen X coming-of-age crime novel a restaurateur’s life spins out of control when his dying uncle, a Milwaukee crime lord, gives him a choice of taking over the family or face certain death at the hands of a rival. This genre-defying novel is laced with humor, heart, and 1980s nostalgia.

“Riveting and hard to put down…mixes many facets but does so with a bartender’s attention to the perfect drink of action, surprise, evolution, and revised life connections. It’s highly recommended reading for crime story fans who like their tales both literary and thought-provoking”—D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

Haunted by the murder of his fiancée, Chance McQueen—once a musician on the cusp of success but now a restaurateur—knows alcohol and toxic relationships are choices slowly killing his soul. Trying to balance the scales between guilt and redemption, Chance takes under his wing a fatherless teen and mentors him through the dramatic stutter steps of budding adulthood.

Awkward, sweet, and soulful, 19-year-old Winnie is suspended in the inertia of waiting for life to begin. Navigating first love, parental loss, and trying to find purpose, Winnie knows he needs to grow up—while Chance is figuring out, he’s not quite grown up enough.

But when Chance’s dying uncle taps him to run his crime family, everyone Chance cares about will be put in harm’s way. Chance must use all of his street smarts and call upon Winnie’s naïve courage to navigate this criminal empire built on murder.

Brilliantly evocative of life at the tail end of the 80s, Falling onto Cotton blends the teenage angst of Pretty in Pink with the grit of The Departed. It is a razor-sharp, richly atmospheric and deeply moving portrait of a boy becoming a man, a man finding his code, and the dark underbelly of organized crime that surrounds them both.

Matthew E. Wheeler