Nick has created the perfect list of rules for remaking his life. His loser friends may be graduating from high school and going nowhere fast, but Nick is determined to make a fresh start. All he has to do is stick to his list. Enter dark-eyed Dawn, tough and troubled. Meeting a girl like her is nowhere on Nick’s list. Neither is hanging out Zod, a teen thug who is back on the streets after Nick testified against him years ago. And making deliveries for the local drug lord definitely isn’t on Nick’s list. So why is Nick caught up with these people and their dangerous schemes? No one said that changing his life would be simple, and Nick’s willing to take a few knocks—and accept a few risks—in his quest for a new beginning. As scams swirl and the stakes rise ever higher, will Nick’s list help him to be a hero—or turn him into a fall guy? Set among the freedoms and uncertainties of the late ’70s, Charles Benoit’s newest noir masterpiece explores how small steps lead to an avalanche of consequences as one boy attempts to take charge of his destiny.