James Tarr

These Troubled Days James Tarr

Paranoia. Terrorism. Chaos. Welcome to Boston, a few years from now...




In a divided city under the increasing influence of a ruthless megacorporation, a widower and his activist daughter, a sadistic private military contractor and his conflicted subordinate, and a Congressman-turned-concentration camp director are on a collision course that will determine the fate of an America descending into fascism.




After the death of his wife in a subway bombing, Harold Maguire's only real concern is making sure his daughter Aiden doesn't pick up the banner of political activism he put down decades ago. David Blair is deeply shaken by what he's seeing as a recruit at Protection Services - a private military corporation owned by the omnipotent Arbitrage Holdings - and he's even more concerned about the conduct of his brutal Lieutenant, Frederick Eckart. Harold's old friend Joe Grant is cashing out of Congress with a golden parachute, managing the Arbitrage internment program in Boston for those deemed "unfit for trial" by the fanatical Leader Robert Wilson Wright and his authoritarian regime.




Blair and Eckart pull riot duty for a demonstration outside of the Chelsea Internment Facility, a walled-off city appropriated by Arbitrage Holdings to be used as a dumping ground for the government's declared enemies. Harold is desperate to talk Aiden out of attending. Joe Grant is realizing running the Facility isn't as rewarding as he thought. When violence erupts at the protest and conspiracy swirls, the characters will converge - and none will be the same.