About the Book
A Homecoming Filled with Questions, and a Past That Refuses to Stay Buried
Johnny Mercer was once Bellwether Bay's celebrated teenage pinball champion. He knew every flipper, every circuit, and every unpredictable bounce of the steel ball. But one terrible night at Seabreak changed everything. A fire tore through the arcade, his friend Jonah Reed lost his life, and Johnny became the person everyone believed was responsible.
For nearly twenty years, Johnny has lived far from the coastal town that turned against him. When his estranged father dies, an unexpected inheritance draws him home, accompanied by a handwritten message that challenges everything he thought he knew about the fire.
Seabreak is preparing for a grand reopening, complete with a new pinball championship and ambitious promises of restoring the town's former glory. At the center of those plans is Johnny's cousin, Eric Mercer, a persuasive businessman with his own vision of the past.
But when investigative reporter Sally Ellis uncovers troubling discrepancies in the original fire investigation, Johnny begins to question the story that destroyed his life.
Inside an old arcade, damaged machines, forgotten records, and his father's unfinished work may hold answers that powerful people would rather leave buried.
And as Johnny searches for the truth, one question becomes impossible to ignore:
What happens when an entire town has built its future on a version of the past that may be wrong?
Pinball Champion is a mystery novel about family secrets, guilt, loyalty, and the extraordinary cost of uncovering the truth.
Explore the Story ›
The Story
Bellwether Bay
Holds Its Secrets.
Once alive with summer visitors, crowded boardwalks, and the unmistakable sounds of pinball machines, Bellwether Bay was a town where Seabreak meant opportunity, excitement, and unforgettable summers.
Then came the fire.
Twenty years later, the seaside community is preparing to reclaim its former glory. Seabreak's reopening promises new jobs, renewed excitement, and a future brighter than the years of decline that followed the tragedy.
But fresh paint cannot erase old memories, and a new championship cannot silence the questions surrounding the night everything changed.
As Johnny Mercer returns to the place he swore he had left behind, the town finds itself caught between protecting its future and confronting its past.
In Bellwether Bay, some secrets refuse to stay buried.
