By the New York Times bestselling author of Descent and The Current, an absorbing new work of literary suspense about two young working men who forge a friendship despite secrets in their past, and whose actions ignite the passions and violence of a small Wisconsin town still haunted by the unsolved disappearance of three boys in the 1970s. For readers of Peter Heller, Liz Moore, and Cormac McCarthy. What if?
What if Sean Courtland's old Chevy truck had broken down somewhere else? What if he'd never met Denise Givens, a waitress at a local tavern in the Wisconsin town where he lands? Or Dan Young, another young man like Sean drifting through, having fled Minnesota for reasons unknown? Instead, together Sean and Dan pick up carpentry and plumbing work for an old man named Marion Devereaux, and Sean gets drawn into the lives of Denise and her father--and of the townspeople, all haunted by the disappearance of three young boys decades ago, in the 1970s. As the paths of these characters converge, observing them all is Detective Corinne Viegas, a woman whose drive to seek justice comes from her father's own failure to find those boys and the violence once done to her sister. And over the course of just a few weeks, an irreversible chain of events is set in motion that culminates in shattering violence, and the revelation of long-buried truths. Evocative, gritty, with indelible characters and setting, Distant Sons is another immersive, gripping suspense novel by Johnston about how the most random intersection of lives can have consequences both devastating and beautiful.

New York Times bestselling author of Descent and The Current Tim Johnston returns with an absorbing new crime novel set in a small Wisconsin town haunted by the unsolved disappearance of three boys in the 1970s. What if? What if Sean Courtland's old Chevy truck had broken down somewhere else? What if he'd never met Denise Givens, a waitress at a local tavern, and gotten into a bar fight defending her honor? Or offered a ride and a job to Dan Young, another young man like Sean, burdened by secrets and just drifting through town? Instead, over the course of just a few short weeks, Sean and Dan form a deep friendship as they get drawn into the lives of the people they meet--from Denise and her father, to Marion Devereaux, who needs some work done on his house, to Corinne Viegas, a savvy detective with top-notch instincts--all haunted in different ways by the disappearance of three youn