Dark Ride

Hardy Reed, known to nearly everyone as Hardly, is twenty-one and coasting. He is friendly and laid-back, and he spends much of his time high. He works a minimum-wage job as a scare actor at an amusement park, a role that suits a man who dodges hard work and big dreams alike.

One afternoon he spots two children, roughly six or seven years old, sitting alone on a bench. Both have injuries, and Hardly realizes someone is hurting them. He reports it to Child Protective Services and assumes that will be the end of his involvement. It isn't. Research shows an agency that is understaffed and overwhelmed, and he doubts it will act. That leaves Hardly, an unlikely protector who can barely manage his own life, but the children have no one else.

For the first time, he commits himself to a cause, sensing that this may be the purpose his life has been building toward. His early attempts to gather evidence that could force the authorities to step in go badly. Gradually, with help from some unexpected allies, he learns investigative methods and discovers he is sharper and more capable than he ever imagined. The danger, though, is far worse than he expected. The children's father is a lawyer who also runs a violent drug-dealing operation. Their mother says she wants to escape with the kids, but Hardly cannot be sure he can trust her.

Confronted with a side of himself he has never known, Hardly refuses to quit. His determination to shield the children could cost them their lives, and his own.