Jack Dotson finally has everything he wants: the promotion he's spent years working for, a house in a trendy neighborhood near downtown Louisville, and a future with Lauren, his stunning, smart, too-good-for-him girlfriend. Then he gets the call that his childhood best friend Mark has died, forcing Jack to do what he never thought he would: return to the sleepy, Midwestern hometown he ran away from years ago.

The plan? Give his condolences to Mark's family and make amends with the friends he left behind. Unfortunately, home isn't the place Jack remembers, blowing this to bits and forcing him to confront everything he ran away from. The best friend he betrayed. The girl who might have loved him. The town that's grown to hate him.

Determined to do right by Mark, Jack commits to attending the funeral and apologizing, but the results are disastrous. Fists start flying, old love interests reignite, and Jack's carefully curated life in Louisville starts slipping through his fingertips, leaving him to wonder who his true friends are and what he even ran away from in the first place.

Full of wit and wisdom, The Jackals is a humorous, heartfelt look at the complexities of friendship and the ways we try to overcome our mistakes.

Adam Shaw

Books