Wallace Stroby is a marvel. In just a handful of novels, he has been able to take bleak and world-weary characters who function in the shadows and on the periphery, and make readers care about them and their dark journeys through the criminal underground. HEAVEN’S A LIE is set almost entirely in the environs of central New Jersey and puts a new twist on a familiar theme while exposing us to some of his best writing to date.

The plot is straightforward, and blessedly so. Joette Harper has multiple, fairly commonplace problems, but they are no less grinding upon the soul. She is working in a dead-end job as the day clerk of a roadside motel on its last legs after she was laid off from her bank teller job. Though a young woman, she is widowed after her husband’s battle with cancer. On top of that, her mother suffers from dementia and is in assisted living. Joette herself is living in a trailer park.

"The plot is an interesting one, but Stroby’s primary strength has always been found in his characters, who march through his books and mark themselves in the reader’s memory with their passing."

Everything changes when Joette witnesses a one-car accident that occurs in front of the motel. She rushes to the automobile to assist the driver and finds that he is suffering from a gunshot wound. He gestures toward his vehicle, where Joette finds a significant amount of cash in a duffel bag --- enough to solve all of her problems and change her life. The driver eventually dies, and she believes it’s a no-brainer to keep her newly found treasure.

There is a problem, though. The money almost certainly did not belong to the driver, and the real owner wants it back. At first he has no idea that Joette even exists, but with a little information here and there, a dab of suspicion, some animal instinct, and a bit of criminal logic, he comes to the correct conclusion. The problem is that Joette regards the cash as hers now, due to both circumstance and need. The guy who is after her is extremely dangerous and will kill without hesitation. Joette isn’t a killer, but she isn’t stupid, either. She is not giving the money back without a fight and should not be underestimated. There is nothing more dangerous than someone on either side of an equation who has nothing to lose and everything to gain.

The plot is an interesting one, but Stroby’s primary strength has always been found in his characters, who march through his books and mark themselves in the reader’s memory with their passing. We all know these people --- or at least know of them --- as we encounter them in convenience stores, parking lots, and other random instances where an inner voice tells us that it is best to move on, even if they appear to be otherwise innocuous. Those folks, combined with Stroby’s masterful prose peppered with streetwise turns of phrase, make HEAVEN’S A LIE a must-read novel.