Protege (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798223399247)

Kevin is a seventeen year old boy tenured in a metal workshop in the early 1980s. Struggling with his own emotional turmoil and a broken first relationship, he finds himself swept up in a masculine world he is ill-equipped to navigate, mentored by Jerry, the leading hand, a man with a dark secret.

Unable to conceive a son of his own, Jerry struggles to relate to Kevin, while experiencing terrible flashbacks to his brutal experiences in the recently concluded Vietnam War. There, Jerry endured his own protégé relationship with the sadistic commanding officer, Billy Kane.

Billy's spirit still plagues Jerry as he struggles to cope with a post-War Australian society suddenly inundated with Vietnamese refugees, the very people he strove to slaughter on his tour of duty as a boy in a man's world. Acting on Billy's advice, Jerry starts taking matters into his own hands.

Kevin and Jerry stagger toward an explosive conclusion where they are left alone in the workshop overnight, both haunted by their own personal demons. It soon becomes apparent that only one of them will leave in the morning, and with Billy Kane whispering in his ear, Jerry knows its two against one.