For the past several years, brothers Adam and Kent Austin have barely spoken, even though they reside in the same town they grew up in, Chambers, Ohio, and Adam still lives in their family home. Adam is a bail bondsman/PI, while Kent is the revered football coach at the local high school. Each of them is dealing with a traumatic event in their past that's kept them distanced for over 20 years.

When Adam was 18, he chose to be with his girlfriend after football practice one day rather than walk his 16-year-old sister, Marie, five blocks to their home. No one ever saw Marie after that -- she was abducted and killed. It tore the family apart, especially Adam's relationship with then 15- year-old Kent. Since then, each has dealt with the tragic event in totally different ways. But the past is about to collide with the present in a horrific way.

Teenager Rachel Bond hires Adam to locate her father, who's just been released from prison and is living in the area. The facts he uncovers and gives to Rachel end up sending her right into the arms of a killer. Adam is devastated to be the cause of another young girl's murder and vows to not only apprehend the man responsible, but to kill him.

Rachel's boyfriend is the star receiver on the football team that Kent coaches, which throws the brothers together again dealing with murder. What they don't expect is that Kent will start receiving threats from the murderer, especially when it's Adam who's hunting for him. Confused by this development, Adam promises to protect Kent and his family. He won't let more people be killed because of him. Will Adam be able to figure out the identity of the murderer -- and be able to kill him -- in time?

Michael Koryta's THE PROPHET is a dynamic thriller with lots of twists and surprises in its fast-moving plot. Character and plot development is exemplary making it a must-read.

Book Summary

Adam Austin hasn't spoken to his brother in years. When they were teenagers, their sister was abducted and murdered, and their devastated family never recovered. Now Adam keeps to himself, scraping by as a bail bondsman, working so close to the town's criminal fringes that he sometimes seems a part of them.

Kent Austin is the beloved coach of the local high school football team, a religious man and hero in the community. After years of near misses, Kent's team has a shot at the state championship, a welcome point of pride in a town that has had its share of hardships.

Just before playoffs begin, the town and the team are thrown into shock when horrifically, impossibly, another teenage girl is found murdered. When details emerge that connect the crime to the Austin brothers, the two are forced to unite to stop a killer - and to confront their buried rage and grief before history repeats itself again.