Black Lightning

In the immediate, haunting wake of the Great War, Ray Chambers—a man whose psyche remains a jagged landscape of shrapnel and memory—seeks sanctuary within the indifferent majesty of the mountains. He is not alone; Thunder, a canine of preternatural instinct who dragged him from the precipice of death in the trenches of France, serves as his silent sentinel. This pastoral retreat, however, is no mere convalescence. Ray’s trajectory intersects with Martha Larned, a mountain girl whose isolation is a palpable, living thing, and her younger brother, Dick. In a twist of fate that feels both cosmic and cruel, Ray discovers Martha is the kin of his fallen comrade, Frank. What begins as a pilgrimage of healing transforms into a domestic crusade as Ray assumes the mantle of protector against the predatory machinations of Jim Howard and his intellectually stunted, volatile brother, Ez. When a catastrophic fall leaves young Dick imperiled, the fragile peace shatters. Ray’s desperate quest for medical aid leaves Martha vulnerable to a surge of fratricidal violence and primal assault. It is Thunder, the four-legged veteran, who must enact a final, feral justice, paving a blood-soaked path toward a union born of shared trauma and hard-won resilience.