April 1980. The dusty backroads of a Southern California town are about to explode.

Tony Gonzalez never planned on raising his younger brother. But when Joey has nowhere else to go, Tony takes him in — and pulls him into the orbit of Nate, whose desert compound runs on guns, weed, and apocalyptic dreams.

Just down the street, Katie Harrison wants out of Cordero as badly as Tony does. Together, they may have one chance at escape — if Tony can keep Joey alive long enough to take it.

Cordero is a lean, action-driven California noir inspired by a real 1980 crime, focused on escalation, pressure, and the consequences of bad decisions.

For readers who enjoy hard-edged crime fiction in the tradition of Elmore Leonard, with a tight, unsentimental approach to character and violence.