Iron House -- John Hart

<p><b>Two families. Two brothers. One explosive secret.</b> <p/><b>John Hart has written four New York Times bestsellers and won an unprecedented two back-to-back Edgar Awards. <i>The New York Times</i> labeled his work Grisham-style intrigue and Turow-style brooding. Now he delivers a gut-wrenching, heart-stopping thriller no reader will soon forget.</b> <p/>There was nothing but time at the Iron Mountain Home for Boys, time for two orphans to learn that life is neither painless nor won without a fight. Julian survives only because his older brother, Michael, is both feared and fiercely protective. When an older boy is brutally killed, Michael makes the ultimate sacrifice to protect his brother: He flees the orphanage and takes the blame with him. <p/>For two decades, Michael thrives on the streets of New York, eventually clawing his way to a world of wealth, fear and respect. But the life he's fought to build unravels when he meets a woman who knows nothing of his past or sins. He wants a fresh start with Elena, the chance to build a family of his own. But a life in organized crime is not so easily abandoned. With a price on his head and everyone he loves at risk, Michael spirits Elena back to North Carolina, to the brother he'd lost and a thicket of intrigue more dense than he could possibly imagine. In a tour de force narrative of violence, hope and redemption, the brothers must return to the Iron House of their childhood, to the place that almost broke them, the place i