Betrayed

Integrity is protecting someone who betrayed you. Courage is keeping a promise even though it might mean death.

A late-night phone call turns what was to be a fun hunting trip into a deadly showdown. Fifteen-year-old brothers George Tokay, Brian Evans and Brett McGovern face death on top of a mesa on the Navajo Nation Reservation in Arizona. They have no idea why men are intent on killing them. 

Betrayed is a contemporary psychological thriller and an exploration of the heart and of a blended family of adopted kids, their relationships to each other and their parents woven into a tight mystery-thriller.

"Adopted and bonding as a family, with histories of death, destruction and for some...abuse, these boys band together—ready to lay down their life for their new family—in order to find a missing friend before dangerous gunmen find them.

“A whirlwind of adventure, relationships, protecting family, hair-raising situations, and cold betrayal.” 

—Tina O’Hailey author of When Darkness Begins

A boy goes missing in Navaho Nation, a family is killed. Onto the next adventure for three brothers, including one who grew up there, to search for him. As to be expected, danger awaits, but these are not ordinary teens. They have faced harrowing situations before, and now they will rely on the skills and experience they’ve developed to get through this one. 

“Once again, author Joseph Lewis has written a fast-paced psychological thriller mystery that immerses readers into a dark world few encounter.”

— Joan Livingston, author of the Isabel Long Mystery Series

“Betrayed is at once an emotional chapter in author Joseph Lewis’ continuing coming-of-age story and an intriguing thriller. Following both law enforcement and a group of teens searching for a missing boy on Native American land, Lewis’ latest also provides a unique view into Navajo culture. A layered story that explodes into a bullet-riddled climax.”

— Rick Treon, award-winning author of Deep Background and Let the Guilty Pay

Fifteen-year-old brothers George Tokay, Brian Evans, and Brett McGovern thought they were going on a hunting trip on the Navajo Reservation. They didn't anticipate that they would turn out to be the prey and would be stalked by strangers determined to kill them, and that the decisions they make could lead to a different outcome.

Strangely, the serial killer and a missing boy in the Navajo Nation threatens more than their family structure or reservation life. These events leave a question in Brian's heart about survivor guilt and whether he is ruining his adopted family by joining it. These questions reverberate in a mystery that challenges Brian's values, life, and experiences in an unexpected way: he feels they are at war as he and his brothers search for safety and answers, violence hot on their trail.

Joseph Lewis does an excellent job of crafting and entwining the politics and process of confronting reservation violence and the efforts of a group of boys to find answers about their conflicted lives and disparate backgrounds.

He paints a realistic, involving portrait of reservation life and the FBI's involvement in shootouts and confrontations that threaten to take not only lives, but ways of life.

The satisfying cat-and-mouse game challenges Brian and his brothers on many levels, from Brian's relationships and adopted family to the level of trust he puts in others.

When the truth about his closest friendship comes to light, everything changes in an unexpected way that neatly ties up loose ends and keeps the story line realistic, compelling, and emotionally charged.

To call Betrayed a thriller alone would be to do it a disservice. Its social inspection of Navajo reservation culture and life and its probe of the roots of love and connection are wonderfully woven into a story of adversity and the struggle to survive on many levels. These elements make Betrayed particularly highly recommended for readers who look for psychological depth and complexity from a story of violence and evolution.

— Diane Donovan, Editor; Donovan's Literary Services; Midwest Book

      Review/Bookwatch; Author of San Francisco Relocated

“Action and adventure are the words of the day in this thrilling, well-written, page-turner from Joseph Lewis.” 

- Sublime Review