Gray Hearts and Greenbacks

Gray Hearts and Greenbacks, is filled with corruption from beginning to end. It grew out of the general societal discontent of our time. Elites of government, religion, finance and almost every other anchoring element of society have come to be seen by ordinary citizens as corrupt and that the game they're in is rigged against them by these outside forces. As a result, many individuals no longer respect the rules and more than a few among them are open to previously forbidden actions. Gray Hearts is a Washington novel with a distinct twist in that it isn't about glamour, intrigue or war but rather a simple case of outrageous white collar fraud against the federal government. The novel was inspired by the true story of a multi-million dollar crime committed against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. A criminal gang operating within the Corps exploited a defect in the procurement regulations for their own benefit. They were caught and are imprisoned. Except for the use of the defective regulation, the novel doesn't track the events of the case. The novel is a first person monomyth. In the story, Corps employee Tommy Phelan is sexually entrapped into becoming a member of a gang committing fraud against the government. He comes under the influence of a mentor, a decadent dilettante member of the enterprise, and becomes convinced that he can navigate the dangerous rapids before him, including avoiding prison and thriving as a criminally enriched but now honorable appearing member of society. The book provides insight into the great recession from which we are just now emerging and examines the nature of the American economic and political systems. Above all it provides an opening into the hearts and minds of less than ideal individuals attempting to find their way through today's moral thickets without the benefit of the certainty and authority of earlier periods of history. The book is short, 63,000 words, and proceeds at a rapid pace. As with classic monomyths there is adventure and offbeat humor throughout. While the hero cannot match the heroism or morality of such earlier works as The Odyssey or Huckleberry Finn, he is far more real and there are others like him out there who match his MO.