The Milk Wagon

By: Michael Hewes

Narrated by: Lyle Blaker

Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

The Milk Wagon is a 90,000-word John Hughes-meets-John Grisham coming-of-age thriller set in the 1980s involving four teenage boys, a down-on-her-luck FBI agent, and a series of murders related to a money laundering scandal that ties them all together.

Matt Frazier, Jason “Hop” Hopkins, and Mark Ragone have been friends since elementary school. They played ball together, they hung out together, and they somehow managed to (mostly) work their way through the awkward years of junior high together. Now, they are finally starting to come into their own as they prepare to start their junior year, but on the first day of school, a new kid named Nate Mayes arrives and, with him, a secret.

Nate appears to be polished, flush with cash, and looks to be a potential lady killer, but as the boys get to know him, they soon realize he also lacks certain social skills, is ill at ease in crowds, and has an air of naiveté about him that makes him hard to read. They soon discover that something terrible is going on at home with Nate’s father, Dr. Ford Mayes.

FBI special agent Kathryn Cooper believes Dr. Mayes has personally had a hand in several deaths related to a money laundering scandal involving compounding pharmacies, dirty physicians, and the United States government. Her attempts to arrest him, however, have been foiled by an insider working both sides of the fence. With her career - and social life - suffering, agent Cooper turns to her new boyfriend, Chief of Police Rick Papania, to help her out, but he may not be the cure-all she imagined.

After finding a piece of evidence that ties Dr. Mayes both to the money laundering investigation and the death of his mother some 14 years prior, Nate concocts a plan to get back at his dad, once and for all. He enlists Matt and his friends to help carry it out, with each making decisions that, individual and collectively, have unexpected and life-altering consequences for everyone.

©2020 Michael Hewes (P)2020 Michael Hewes

Thank You Good Morning America!

Listened to it straight through!!!! My first read by this author. He captivated high school kids so spot on and the performance couldn't have been better! Once you start, you WON'T stop! The story line is about how Junior's get mixed up with some really bad adults! Don't want to be a spoiler but I am a constant reader and say go for it! I just finished and can't get the smile off my face!

A fun read

This book was intriguing and delightful. Books can leave you wanting more, sad, bewildered, educated, exhausted, any number of emotional states. This book left me happy.

Love it!

I was raised in the 80s and SO enjoyed this book! Good plot and twists!

Fun! Well Read! Couldn't stop listening ! Thanks!

This book took me back to my own High School Days! Fun and thank you for an awesome narrator! More please!

incredible!!

this story will have you on the edge of your seat! Twist and turns i did not see coming!! this is a must read, as Michael takes you back and the characters are so believable!! Leaves you wanting more of these characters. Can not wait to read/listen to more of his stories!!!!

What a fun mystery

I loved the time period and setting. It was a great book, a mystery really, but such an unique approach, fresh and interesting.

This book doesn’t disappoint

The Milk Wagon has been on my “stack of books” for months. I decided to download it and figured I would listen to over the course of a few week on my daily dog walks. The book was so good, I took my dog for a walk one morning at 6:00AM and finished the book by the time I went to sleep that night.

The suspense was good but the high school bond of the group of guys was my favorite part. Awesome book, especially if you were part of a tight knit group of friends in high school. The type of friends that would be your alibi for anything regardless if you were with them or not.

I really enjoyed this!

Great story! For someone who grew up in Mississippi in the ‘80’s, it truly hit home!

Fabulous !!!

The milk wagon is a great story ! Micheal did a fantastic job working some real life places and events of the 80’s and 2000’s of South Mississippi into a wonderful piece of fiction. The Creme Scheme really happened in Hattiesburg and the coast and people are still being prosecuted for it and the coast mafia really existed with hit men and crooked cops to take people out. I grew up in these areas at this time so I recognized the music and the places and stores etc that he referred to in his writings. Such a talented author ! Can’t wait to read another book by him!

Phenomenal writing and story.

Enjoyed this so much. The writing is amazing, the pace, characters, and tension he creates kept me listening. I finished this in a couple days it was so good. The writer never bogs down the story with mundane or insignificant details, telling only enough to set the atmosphere. The performance of the speaker was incredible as well. Very well produced and he does character voices well, but does not over act, which is great. I wish I could wipe my memory and experience the story all over again for the first time. Heres to Nate!