<p><strong><em>Harvest of Ashes</em> is the second book in the <em>Darkness Before Mourning</em> series. </strong></p><p><strong>December 1980 brings Jack Lewis not only the usual Christmas pressures felt by parents of young children but a long list. He&rsquo;s promised his wife to be happy this year (despite some very sad anniversaries) work is a minefield and his mom gets sick. Perkins&nbsp;again explores the dark and chilling side of the American Dream&mdash;in particular the things that can never be spoken of no matter how large and terrifying they might loom.</strong></p><p><strong>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve spent my life largely out of step being just different enough that the people around me knew I didn&rsquo;t entirely fit in. I thought I was used to it. Then I moved to the South. It wasn&rsquo;t just that I didn&rsquo;t hunt fish or like either NASCAR or grits. It was way beyond that. I was three-strikes unthinkable&mdash;an atheist in the Bible Belt a damn Yankee in the South and a PhD in Jesse Helms&rsquo; country.&rdquo;<em> (from the Prologue)</em></strong></p>