The Hand of God - John Isaac Jones

A fictionalized retelling of the Florida Chillingworth murders.

Bobby Lincoln, a young African American, seems to always be broke. He works a day job at a sugar mill and weekends on a charter boat, but he gambles it away, then borrows money to live on.

After his common-law wife says she's going to leave him if he doesn't start making more money, he agrees to take part in a murder which goes horribly wrong.

Once he and his accomplice have the victims on a boat taking them out to sea to murder them, he recognizes one as an old family friend and wants out of the murders.

His accomplice says it's too late to back out and he's in "too deep now." To relieve his frustration, Bobby takes part in the murders.

After he collects the $2,500 he was promised, Bobby starts feeling guilty, can't sleep, takes to drink, sees ghosts and finally confesses to his mother. His mother has him arrested.

In jail charged with murder, Bobby realizes he has to change.  With the help of Bags, a knowledgeable inmate who delivers books to other prisoners, he undertakes to self-educate himself and begins reading books about anything and everything. 

Days before he goes to trial, the DA calls him to his office to make a deal. If Bobby will testify against the main perpetrator and cooperate with the investigation and trial, he will let Bobby go free.

Bobby agrees and, over the next six months, he works with the DA, all the while still reading books and asking life questions of Bags. They get the main perpetrator convicted.

But Bobby's problems aren't over. While investigating and convicting the main perpetrator, the DA has discovered that a local group of bootleggers were involved in the killings. He moves to arrest the main players in the bootlegging operation.

When that happens, the bootleggers send their assassins to kill Bobby. When they can't find him, they kill his mother. Now Bobby has to avenge the murder of his mother.

When the assassins come for Bobby, he hides in a church. 

Will Bobby survive? Or will he become another victim of the bootleggers?

A gripping tale of murder, redemption and the search for God.