Waking Up

When his 11-year-old son is kidnapped and murdered, a distraught Michael Hayes faces the potential end of his family and his booming business, Eagle Realty. The police fail to find the killer, leading Hayes and his Eagle colleague, Soo-Mee Yeong, to embark on their own investigation. Enlisting the aid of an old friend who has his own ties to the criminal underground, the duo focus on a Japanese mobster who, when attempting to launder money, suffered substantial losses in an Eagle real estate transaction managed by Hayes. The search leads Hayes and Yeong through the shadow world of drug smuggling and duplicitous real estate deals in America and Japan. Will they find the killer and bring him to justice? Joe Traum brings memorable characters, colorful locales, and a page-turning plot to this fascinating thriller.