Showing results by author "Patrick Jones" in All Categories

Todd and Tina Morgan were both there the night their mother died. They both saw their father kill her. But they can't agree on what actually happened. To Tina, their father is a murderer. Their mother was trying to defend herself. To Todd, their father is a protector. He saved Todd and Tina when their mother turned a knife on them. Now their father is on the run. Todd and Tina are in separate foster placements. Todd knows there's only one way to clear his dad's name: Get Tina to change her story. Get her to tell the truth. But the truth may not be as simple as Todd thought.

Life is looking up for Xavier. Things are good with Jennie, his baseball coach believes in him, he's earned the role of closer, and his dad's coming home after serving 10 years. But making up for lost time with his dad doesn't go as Xavier had hoped. It seems his dad's always angry with him. Or drinking. Or out. Or lecturing Xavier on what it means to be a man. When the tension at home builds, Xavier's own hot temper flares, threatening to send him down the same path as his father.

When Hinton Helsinger leaves the Youth Correctional Center, he's set on reforming his impulsive ways. But things at home have changed: his dad has been killed, his mom's remarried his uncle, and his uncle is the new kingpin of the family gang that controls the town's drug trade. Threatened by Hinton's return, Hinton's uncle hatches a sinister plot using Hinton's girlfriend, Olivia, as a pawn. As Hinton struggles between the impulse to avenge his dad's death and the desire to seek a way out of that corrupt life, he embarks on a downward spiral of revenge and madness....

Ian's band is finally taking off. But the band's front man and Ian's best friend, Orlando, can't catch a break as a black kid in their white town. Tension with a security guard lands both Ian and Orlando in jail, and when Orlando is held indefinitely, someone will need to take over the band until he gets out. When Orlando chooses Chase, the band's bassist, to step in, Ian is slighted. As Ian's resentment builds, he plots his revenge. One by one, he turns his bandmates against one another, with tragic results.

Deja's mom has never been there when Deja needed her. She's lied, run off, and gotten into trouble with the law more times than anyone can count. She always promises to change - and always breaks those promises. Now - 17 years after Deja was born in prison - her mom is back behind bars and having another baby. Deja agrees to raise baby Heaven until her mother returns home. She's determined to give Heaven the loving family life Deja never had. But being a substitute parent is harder than Deja expected.

Every adult wants to give DeQuin advice. His father, who's serving a life sentence, thinks DeQuin needs to toughen up. His uncle wants DeQuin to work hard and keep his head down. Then there's his grandfather, lecturing DeQuin at every turn - when he's not rambling about his glory days in the 1960s civil rights movement. DeQuin is doing fine without their help - until a fun night with friends gets out of control. Now he has to deal with the fallout. Should he fight, as his dad suggests? Should he run and hide, as his uncle would do? Or should he follow his grandfather's example?

Cody's basketball team, The Rebels, has an almost perfect record, thanks to the skills of his best friend Jayson "Dominator" Davis. Jayson is new to the team and to the nearly all-white high school. Tension between the coach and Jayson has simmered since he transferred from the inner city. When Coach kicks Jayson off the team, more than the school's record is at stake. A school-wide dispute falls along racial lines, and Cody finds himself at the center. Can Cody step up his game where it really counts?

Latrell Baker's scientific approach to football - watching football - has finally paid off. Harmon Holt heard about the algorithm he developed for determining the best defensive play, and now Latrell's landed himself an internship with the NFL's LA Stars. But he'll soon discover that working in pro football involves more politics and secrets than science.

In rural Missouri, Crawford County has had more than its share of wildlife problems. Not even a year earlier the woods were home to a vicious killer brought back from extinction. In "The Wolf's Moon", Mark Lansdowne and his pal, Warren Skruggs, sent them back...but at a cost. Now something is haunting the rivers in Crawford County.