The Council

Drew parked about five blocks from his office and carefully looked around. He had put on a faded tweed cap, old shoes, ragged street clothes, and, underneath, he was wearing his bulletproof vest. With a five-day beard and uncombed hair, he was unrecognizable as he shuffled up the street, looking through trash bins. When he was close enough to see his office, he saw a car sitting a couple of blocks up from the building. He recognized it immediately, and he knew what it meant. The car started, so he went back to digging for cans, listening as it slowly came closer. His hands were shaking, and he was sweating profusely, but he kept up his charade. Then he heard a muffled pop and fell to the ground from the impact of a bullet that hit him in the side.







When thirty men under indictment for crimes against women and children die in accidents or commit suicide within two years, Drew Kaufman, a private detective in East Texas, suspects a group of vigilante killers. When his suspicions become known, Drew becomes a target of the very killers he's investigating-who call themselves the Council"and he must race against time to get enough evidence before they silence him forever. He must also come to terms with his unsettling, growing belief that what the Council is doing may be closer to justice than to murder.











The Council raises multiple questions about the truth of domestic violence and its sometimes less-than-fitting consequences for the perpetrators in our culture. It explores the psychology of abuse, society's response, and the longing of victims for justice.