Rock and a Hard Place Press
A Lit-Noir Publisher Focusing on Stories of the Desperate...and What They Do Next.
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Waves of Burden

Curtis Ippolito’s Waves of Burden is a propulsive, breakneck thriller that examines the pull of family and the longing to create something for yourself, set against a backdrop of shady characters and sunny San Diego, coming soon from Rock and a Hard Place Press.

Waves of Burden

by Curtis Ippolito

COMING SOON from RHP on June 24, 2026
Print ISBN: 979-8-9938836-7-0; eBook ISBN: 979-8-9938836-8-7
Pre-Order on AMAZON

Drew Jones is trying to scrap a life together. A long-time resident of San Diego County's foster care system, distrust, shock, and danger are all he's ever known. Now married, with a contracting business he's trying to get off the ground and a kid on the way, all he wants is enough for a down payment on a house and to know his family has the kind of security he could never have dreamed of.

But when his foster brother, Jake, a nomad van-lifer who never met a problem he couldn't run from, returns to town, the distrust, shock, and danger return with him.

After witnessing a convenience store robbery gone wrong, Drew assumes his foster brother has done what he's always done: run. But when cops begin poking around, followed by armed men threatening his family, Drew comes to understand what happened in that convenience store wasn't really random, and that his brother hasn't actually run.

Now, caught between his commitment to keep his growing family safe and his oldest bonds, Drew has to navigate a world he has no knowledge of, a world in which one false step could see his body washed up on one of San Diego's picturesque beaches, or lost forever beneath the waves.

In this shocking, mysterious, and deeply-felt novel, Anthony and Derringer Award-winning author Curtis Ippolito probes what, exactly, makes a family, and how much weight they can put on someone before they begin to sink.

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WHAT THEY’RE SAYING:

“Hard up against it, Curtis Ippolito’s working class characters are two steps away from being pulled under. In particular though, his Drew Jones won’t succumb as he confronts lethal obstacles while also seeking to overcome his own demons. WAVES OF BURDEN: rugged, unflinching, and purely satisfying.”

― Gary Phillips, The Haul

“Even paradisical San Diego has a dark underbelly and Curtis Ippolito exposes it in his dynamic second novel, WAVES OF BURDEN. Ippolito’s deft descriptions of San Diego will make you reach for sunscreen as you whiff the salted tang in the air. Dark secrets, family dynamics, ruthless villains, WAVES OF BURDEN has them all and then some.”

― Matt Coyle, author of the bestselling Rick Cahill crime series

“Curtis Ippolito mines the deep reservoir of loss, regret, and family ties in this remarkable novel.”

― S.A. Cosby, best-selling author of King of Ashes

“A propulsive thriller about the bonds of brotherhood, Curtis Ippolito’s WAVES OF BURDEN is a breakneck ride reminiscent of Don Winslow, and set against the backdrop of a sunny San Diego, populated by cold-blooded criminals and characters put to the brink to protect those they love. Read this now!”

― Lee Matthew Goldberg, acclaimed author of The Mentor and The Great Gimmelmans

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Curtis Ippolito is an Anthony Award- and Derringer Award-winning writer. He is the author of WAVES OF BURDEN, and Burying the Newspaper Man. Additionally, his short stories have appeared in numerous prominent publications, as well as being featured in several anthologies. He lives in San Diego and is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and serves as vice-president of the San Diego chapter of Sisters in Crime.