NEXT OF KIN

A man’s search for his birth parents opens a door to dangers arising from the past.

Following in her family’s footsteps, Annie McIntyre works as a private investigator in her hometown of Garnett, Texas. She and her boyfriend, Wyatt, attend a party for her cousin Nikki and her fiance, Sonny, thrown by his best man and adopted brother, Clint Marshall, a talented singer poised to make it big in country music. A discussion about nature versus nurture spurs Clint to hire Annie to find his birth parents, opening a nasty can of worms. Clint, who was adopted out of foster care at age 4, has a few faint memories, and a DNA test he’s recently taken turned up a distant cousin. Annie quickly learns that his birth father is Ronald Mott, who’s currently incarcerated for armed bank robbery. His mother is presumably Lorena, Mott’s wife at the time. His adoptive mother, oddly enough, was a teller at the bank Mott robbed. Ignoring the advice of her grandfather Leroy, a former sheriff, to avoid Mott, whom he considers a dangerous sociopath, Annie writes to him in hopes of confirming that his ex-wife was Clint’s mother and also interviews a skittish Mott neighbor whose daughter vanished years ago. Lorena won’t talk to Annie, but her son, Cody, who’s obviously Clint’s brother, will. Cody’s involved with a dangerous drug dealer, who starts harassing Annie. Clint takes off after Annie reports her findings, leaving her to deal with the fallout. Although she’s done what Clint wanted, Annie can’t let go of the case, which might just be the death of her.

A gritty tale of troublesome family dynamics with a tough and determined protagonist.