21 Beacon Street
K Patrick Reynolds
eBook
Boston, Massachusetts: September 1971 The stubborn resolve of the leaders of the United State of America, to halt the proliferation of Communism in Vietnam is causing considerable unrest throughout the country. Walter Cronkite, the Dean of American Broadcasters, fans the flames of discontent, with his nightly report that detail the latest American casualties of the war. Owen O'Rourke arrives in Boston, Massachusetts, anxious to begin law school. The recent college graduate has been spared a trip to the debacle in Vietnam, as the result of a fortuitous roll of a draft lottery ping-pong ball. Unfortunately, Owen's best friend P.F.C. John Declan Gallagher has not been so lucky.The soldier is M.I.A., in the sultry jungles of Vietnam, presumed to be captured by the Viet Cong. In a strange turn of events, Owen O'Rourke finds himself immersed in his own war, with key members of the Boston underworld. A series of chance encounters, results in Owen O'Rourke matching wits, with a mob hitman, drug dealers, kidnappers, pimps, dirty cops, crooked politicians, and a seductive stripper from Vietnam. Owen is tutored and trained, by two experienced crime fighters, who are more than familiar with the local crime scene. Owen O'Rourke proves to be a natural, for undercover work. As Owen O'Rourke starts to gain knowledge and understanding of the ruthless Boston criminal element, he begins to concentrate on the differences in the minds of the criminal sociopaths. O'Rourke draws the conclusion that most sociopaths are similar, in their lack of concern for others; yet, they employ different methods of implementing their private plan, to achieve their own selfish success. Owen O'Rourke's mature realization of the dichotomy that permeates the sick mind of the sociopath, may prove to keep the fledgling crime fighter above ground and upright for his law school graduation. One mistake in judgment could prove fatal for Owen O'Rourke.