In the Shadows of Men

By: Robert Jackson Bennett

Narrated by: A. T. Chandler

In the desolate flats of West Texas, two brothers purchase an old motel with the intent of renovating it and making a fortune off the population surge brought about by the fracking boom. Though each man is lured there by the promise of wealth, they are also fleeing something: a history of trauma, of failure, of family abuse, and shame.

But the motel proves to have a history of its own. Once the business of a distant relative of theirs, Corbin Pugh, the brothers begin to discover signs that it might have been more than just a motel.

As they live and labor in its dusty halls, fighting the crawling feeling that they are not alone here, they begin to wonder: What kind of a man was Corbin Pugh? What happened in the rooms he owned, so many decades ago? And is the motel changing them, warping them to become more ruthlessly ambitious and brutal - or is this what men must become in order to survive on the edge of civilization?

©2020 Robert Jackson Bennett. (P)2020 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Texas Fracking Oil Boom Opportunities consequences

solid 4 star novelette story. Creative backdrop to the second fracking boom in Texas that points back to the 1st boom consequences. Much was taken for granted or overlooked in the 1st boom. its a haunting of sorts. its also a tale of being treated badly growing up and how one might fight the demons resulting from that environment.