Last Place Called Home: A Novel [Paperback]

As the secret federal sting operation Snakehead targets the fentanyl trade, the small mill town of Stanton, Massachusetts, becomes a battlefield in the war on drugs. In the midst of this turmoil, three mothers—newspaper reporter Laura Everett, businesswoman Mimi Sullivan, and machinist Angie Gillen—must overcome their differences and confront their pasts to keep their troubled teenagers out of the crossfire.

Help comes from two Stanton cops who break ranks after discovering Snakehead’s hidden agenda. Stakes rise as the opioid crisis deepens and Mimi’s daughter sinks further into heroin addiction. Laura and Angie’s sons try to save her, but their efforts only place her at greater risk. Ultimately, the deadly violence threatening the community compels Laura to dig deep within herself for the power to take charge.

A fast-paced, multilayered thriller that spotlights the high human costs of the drug war,Last Place Called Homeis also a story about love and loyalty to family, friends, and place. Stanton is a hard place to live in—but it’s an even harder place to leave.Author, scholar, and activistBetsy Hartmannaddresses critical national and global challenges in her books, articles, and public appearances. She is the author of the feminist classicReproductive Rights and Wrong: The Global Politics of Population Controland ofTheAmerica Syndrome: Apocalypse, War and Our Call to Greatness. Eerily prescient, her two political thrillers,TheTruth about FireandDeadly Election, explore the threat the Far Right poses to American democracy. Betsy did her undergraduate degree at Yale University and her PhD at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She is professor emerita of Development Studies at Hampshire College, where she taught for twenty-eight years. She lives in Amherst, Massachusetts.Last Place Called Homeis her latest book. For more on Betsy, vl“