Venice Beach Psalms (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798987765579)

A Desperate Father, A Missing Daughter

Peter Blair is three days sober when Declan Fury walks into his Echo Park office, a space that smells of "old coffee and new regret". Fury, the gaunt, aging lead singer of a bygone punk rock band, is desperate. His daughter, Siobhan, grieving the recent death of her mother, has vanished into the world of Prophet Emmett Cain, a charismatic preacher running a "ministry" for the lost souls and homeless of Venice Beach. Her last message was a cryptic text: "Found something real. Don't worry.".

An Undercover Mission with a Past

What begins as a standard missing persons case quickly spirals into something far more personal and dangerous. Blair discovers that the enigmatic Prophet Cain is the brother of a man who died in county jail twelve years ago-a man Blair himself arrested. Unsure if he's walked into a case or a carefully laid trap for revenge, Blair has no choice but to go deeper. To find Siobhan, he must shed his identity and go undercover, becoming "Pete," a lost soul seeking salvation in the very community he intends to destroy.

The Seduction of Belonging

Blair embeds himself in Cain's "family," expecting a simple con. Instead, he finds a complex world of genuine community and shared hope, built upon a dark foundation of drug trafficking, prostitution, and systematic exploitation, all disguised in the gentle language of "love" and "contribution". As he documents evidence for his LAPD contact, Blair finds himself struggling with an unexpected temptation: the allure of the very belonging he's faking. The line between his mission and his cover blurs, and with his sobriety hanging by a thread, the investigation becomes a battle for his own soul.

A Choice with No Right Answer

When Cain confronts Blair, revealing he knows his true identity, he offers a twisted deal: Siobhan's freedom in exchange for Blair's complete surrender to the family. Trapped between a promise to a father, his duty to the law, and the people he's grown to care for, Blair must make an impossible choice. In the shadows of Venice Beach, where prophets and predators look the same and salvation costs everything, doing the right thing might destroy everyone involved.

A noir thriller about faith, exploitation, and the price of redemption in the dark heart of Los Angeles.

Author: Thomas Fasano
ISBN-13: 9798987765579
Publisher: Coyote Canyon Press
Language: English
Published: 11/03/2025
Pages: 220
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.57lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.50d