In this novel, ambition and greed cause a family to split apart, resulting in suffering that will last for decades.

From when they were children, Rudi and Gus Considine could not have been more different. While Gus did well in school, encouraged by his father to get a good education—eventually studying marketing—Rudi was the opposite. He left school at the age of 13 after receiving horrible, violent punishment from his teachers in response to his inability to read. He pleads with his father, Malachi, to let him work in his butcher shop and picks up the trade quickly. Soon, Rudi finds new and innovative ways to grow the business. He opens a meat-packing plant and several shops, eventually forging Hawthorne Meats Limited, using his keen business instincts as well as his fearsome determination. Rudi’s ambition soon brings him to the decision that he needs Malachi to use his land and home as collateral for bank loans to expand the business. Unfortunately, Malachi wants no part of this plan and Gus also rejects the idea, which ignites Rudi’s fierce anger and temper. Then Rudi’s friend and personal assistant, Kevin Quilty, speaks to his boss about a hypothetical strategy involving hiring someone to kill a person and using the family’s meatpacking facility to get rid of the body. Not long after the exchange, Rudi’s wife, Penny, finds Malachi at a hospital, dying of a gunshot wound. Following the funeral, Rudi approaches his brother about selling Malachi’s land to help the business and Gus once again refuses. In this novel, McKenna skillfully weaves together a story of one family through several decades, showing the changes Rudi and Gus go through and how their relationships with each other and the people around them transform through time. This is an engaging, fast-paced story filled with treachery, backstabbing, and blind ambition (“Nothing could tear Rudi away from the strategic and tactical imperatives involved in building up his business”). The narrative moves quickly and smoothly while managing to carefully construct the foundation for the brothers’ rivalry.

A thrilling tale that delves into the family dynamics and challenges of running a business.