Controlled, reflective, and psychologically precise…
In his latest book, Harmon examines what happens when a man can no longer outrun the consequences of his own hesitation. Fifty-seven-year-old Tyler Manion is overwhelmed by a life closing in on him from every direction. His son faces a federal corruption investigation. His daughter risks her life daily as a Chicago police officer. His wife is in the middle of a spiritual crisis. At work, his authority is slipping, and his health shows troubling signs. As past choices resurface, Tyler must decide whether awareness alone can save him—or if action is finally unavoidable?
Harmon centers the narrative on interior pressure rather than external action. Harmon is less concerned with plot momentum than with the psychological cost of avoidance. Tyler’s struggle is not indecision but distraction—an inability to remain present long enough to face what demands his attention. His thoughts drift into memory, abstraction, and rationalization, and the novel mirrors this movement through reflective passages that blur past and present. In weaker hands this approach could stall, but here it sharpens the novel’s purpose, immersing the reader in the same mental crowding that confines Tyler.
The novel’s social and political currents remain deliberately understated. Pandemic strain, institutional mistrust, and civic unrest shape the emotional terrain without becoming the point of the narrative. Faith is treated as similarly unsettled—personal, disruptive, and unresolved. Harmon permits belief and doubt to stand together, complicating the moral fabric of every relationship. The result is a disciplined, observant novel that leaves the reader with an unease that lingers. Lovers of psychologically driven literary fiction will want to take a look.
Palmetto Publishing
Pub date February 3, 2026
ISBN 979-8822975637
Print length 438 pages
Price $34.99 (USD) Hardcover, $22.99 Paperback
