The Shadow Wager

In the fog-choked coastal city of Bayport, a casino heir’s fatal hit-and-run spawns a brutal cover-up. Leo Mears, a failed dockworker hollowed by addiction to a virtual slot empire, is lured into becoming the perfect scapegoat. When the promised fortune turns to ashes and his fragile hope is crushed, Leo’s revenge weaponizes a landmark class-action lawsuit against the family’s online gambling platform—a legal knife that cuts both ways. Told in the bleak, psychologically intricate style of Ross Macdonald, this is a story of buried secrets, collateral damage, and the terrible ecstasy of self-immolating retribution, where staring into the abyss means letting it take up permanent residence in your soul.