An Otto Penzler Book John Shannon is a petty thief on the run. A three-time loser framed for a murder he didnt commit, he knows the cops are closing in on him and that hes facing life in prisonor death by lethal injection. Then, as if out of nowhere, a bizarre text message draws him to a meeting in the dark of night. A foreigner who calls himself the Identity Man offers Shannon an incredible chance to start again: a new face, a new home, a new beginning. Soon, to his amazement, Shannon finds himself living a life he never dreamed possible. In a ruined city that is trying to rebuild, he finds work as a carpenter and a wood carver. He meets the beautiful Teresa Grey and for the first time falls in love with the sort of woman who could make him a better man. It seems too good to be trueand it is. Just as Shannon feels within sight of redemption, all hell breaks loose. It turns out this ruined city is crawling with corruption. There are crooked politicians, gangsters, dirty cops everywhereand, for some reason he doesnt understand, all of them seem to want Shannon dead. John Shannon has run out of second chances, and now hes running out of time. Moving through the darkness in the burnt-out shambles of a dirty town, hes got to ferret out the secret of his new lifeand fastif he wants to be left with any life at all.