Habits of the Heart

Fifty-seven-year-old drifter Jack Hightower has spent decades running from the ghosts of his youth, but an unexpected inheritance from his late wife forces him back to the sweltering, secretive town of New Hope, Texas. Jack is determined to uncover the truth and clear the name of his high school best friend, Stephen Pardee, who vanished forty years ago after being wrongfully convicted of a brutal murder that shattered his forbidden romance with a beautiful Black woman named Nettie Bee. However, Jack's investigation quickly threatens the omnipotent Pardee family empire - a ruthless dynasty currently grooming its golden-boy Governor for the Presidency. As Jack digs deeper into the town's dark history of staggering wealth, virulent racism, and buried sins, the violence repeats itself: witnesses are silenced with hunting arrows, Jack's dog is tortured, and Jack himself is framed by a corrupt sheriff for murder. Adjacent to the town exists the Big Thicket. A vast, mysterious, and dangerous forest of mighty trees, dangerous animals, rushing streams, and a tangle of thorns. The Big Thicket has claimed many lives, and Jack finds out early on that he may be another victim.Hunted and alone, Jack must risk everything to expose a decades-old conspiracy before he becomes the Big Thicket's next victim. Read more