Lamentation: A Novel [Paperback]

2015 Anthony Award Nominee for Best Mystery Novel

In a frigid New Hampshire winter, Jay Porter is trying to eke out a living and maintain some semblance of a relationship with his former girlfriend and their two-year-old son. When he receives an urgent call that Chris, his drug-addicted brother, is being questioned by the sheriff about his missing junkie business partner, Jay feels obliged to come to his rescue. After Jay negotiates his brother's release from the county jail, Chris disappears into the night. As Jay begins to search for him, he is plunged into a cauldron of ugly lies and long-kept secrets that could tear apart his small hometown and threaten the lives of Jay and all those he holds dear. Powerful forces come into play that will stop at nothing until Chris is dead and the information he harbors is destroyed.

Clifford paints true-to-life characters with the same gritty touch as the best of Dennis Lehane. Straightforward and edgy, Lamentation gnaws with nail-biting tension on every page. A must-read for contemporary hardboiled mystery fans who appreciate the type of terse dialogue and real life conflicts and settings Elmore Leonard so richly brought to life. --Robert Dugoni, author of The Conviction

Jay Porteris a solid New England guy who s had a troubled life. His parents died in an auto accident under suspicious circumstances when he was a kid. His brother is a drug addict. He and his girl have split up. He barely knows his young son. He makes ends meet bydoing odd jobs. Yet when his brother is suspected of murdering his business partner, Jay s staunch character and moral code compel him tl“A