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The Plunge
After getting fired from a crooked Beverly Hills detective agency—for the unforgivable sin of being too honest—L.A. private eye Joe Knox still talks tough but has learned that staying sunny-side-up is the safer way to survive. Now he’s striking out on his own…well, almost. He’s teamed up with Leah Levin, the sharp, attractive, business-savvy owner of a thriving frozen-yogurt chain.
Their first case arrives fast: track down two teenage runaways—a boy and a girl—whose trail pulls them into the shadowy underside of 1980s small-town politics, meth labs, Hells Angels, conspiracy, and murder in a Mojave Desert resort town called Paleytown, a bargain-basement Palm Springs with a dangerous heartbeat.
One teen has fallen in with Reggie Thomas, a stuntman-turned-enforcer aching to escape a world of druggies, grifters, and thieves. Hoping for one big payday to launch a movie career, he agrees to cook a hundred pounds of meth for the ruling Paley clan, headed in death by Clinton Paley—founder, kingpin, and recent occupant of a suddenly empty grave. His passing ignites a wildfire of competing agendas, and his violent family will kill to protect their fortune and their name.
When one of the runaways turns up dead in the resort’s pride and joy—a 200-acre man-made lake known as The Plunge—the private eyes and the desperate meth cooks find themselves unlikely allies. Together, they’ll have to expose the killer and bring an end to the long, bloody reign of the Paley family.
Reader Reviews
Lisa Soland-
"I came to The Plunge already familiar with Tom Eubanks’ work as a playwright, so I was curious to see how his voice would translate to a novel—and it turns out, remarkably well. This is the first novel of his I’ve read, and it feels confident, cinematic, and sharply observed from the opening pages.
Set against the sun-bleached menace of a Mojave Desert town in the 1980s, The Plunge delivers a classic noir setup with a fresh sensibility. Private eye Joe Knox and his rookie partner Leah Levin make for a compelling duo, balancing grit with wit as they navigate corrupt politics, failed Savings & Loans, biker gangs, meth cooks, and a deeply entrenched family dynasty. The plot is dense but never muddy; Eubanks has a playwright’s instinct for pacing, character entrances, and collision—every storyline feels like it’s moving inexorably toward something explosive.
What really stands out is the way the novel humanizes its criminals and complicates its heroes. The parallel story of Reggie Thomas and I.Q. Sonneborn—outsiders chasing a Hollywood dream through disastrously bad decisions—is surprisingly moving, and the moment when their world collides with the private eyes feels both inevitable and earned. The mystery at the center, involving a murdered runaway and the grotesque theft of a powerful man’s body, is dark, unsettling, and oddly poetic.
Eubanks writes with a strong sense of place and a sly sense of humor, even when the stakes are deadly. You can feel the theatrical roots in the dialogue and structure, but the book fully embraces what a novel can do—sprawling, layered, and morally messy. The Plunge is a smart, propulsive crime novel that rewards close attention, and it left me hoping this won’t be Joe Knox’s last case."
Other Works
Synopsis
Los Angeles, 1966. Matthew Banning is a quirky, 14-year-old preacher’s kid who is victimized by his classmates and alienated by his mentally ill mother. Expecting a summer full of surfing and romance, his dreams are dashed when he and his two brothers are spirited away by his missionary father to Haiti.
Matt discovers the perilous road through paradise—and the poverty, disease and hopelessness of the Haitian people. Once at the mission, he innocently becomes the target of reprisals from the corrupt head missionary. On a day-trip to Port-au-Prince with one of the seminarians, Matt falls in love with Rachel, a rich, mulatto daughter of a rebellious government dignitary. Matt endures a strange aphrodisiac ritual, a voodoo ceremony, and a violent storm in his quest to be with the girl of his dreams. But Rachel’s father leads a failed coup against dictator “Papa Doc” Duvalier and Rachel and her family vanish. Heroically, Matt leads the militia on a perilous chase across Haiti to reunite with her.
Reader Reviews:
Carmen Miladela Roca-Kruschke:
"This is SUCH a wonderful book! Worlds Apart is FABULOUS. But be pre-WARNED. If you start reading, you'll be hooked. DON'T START. Don't EVEN Begin.You'll have to buy it. Honest. I've bought it and read it through twice. Fabulous."
Rachel Wyatt:
"Tom Eubanks’ Worlds Apart is a luminous and emotionally resonant coming-of-age novel set against the lush yet politically charged backdrop of 1960s Haiti. With sharp prose and brilliant sensitivity, Eubanks captures the story of an American boy’s journey into adulthood, identity, and cultural consciousness, rendering a story that is both personal and politically poignant.
At the heart of the novel is Matthew Banning, a boy from Los Angeles, and the son of a preacher. Matthew himself is in many ways an outsider. He is at times awkward, yet introspective, and his home life is fractured by his mother’s mental illness. Matthew’s summer plans of surfing are dashed by his father’s decision to take the family on a missionary trip to Haiti.
What follows is a rich and dangerous immersion into a world far removed from anything Matthew had ever known. Notably, Eubanks does not shy away from the contradictions of missionary work or the complex dynamics between privileged foreigners and the Haitian people. Matthew soon realizes the mission is riddled with hypocrisy, power plays, and racial undertones, especially embodied by the corrupt director, Reverend Eugene Rawlins.
But amid the disillusionment, Matthew finds awakening to beauty, danger, and desire. He meets Rachel, the strong-willed daughter of a radical Haitian government official. Matthew’s relationship with Rachel is tender, yet complicated by cultural barriers and the looming threat of political violence. Eubanks explores their emotional connection, painting it not just as young love, but also a mutual longing for freedom from worlds in which they both feel confined.
Eubanks illuminates the Haitian landscape with vibrant prose, capturing the essence of colorful markets, pounding tropical storms, and the haunting music and mystery of Voodoo ceremonies. The country is not just a setting, but a force within the story that is simultaneously enchanting and threatening. The novel grips with suspense as Rachel’s father becomes involved in a failed coup and Rachel disappears. Matthew, no longer the naïve boy who had first arrived in Haiti, sets out across the Haitian countryside in search of Rachel.
The final chapters of Worlds Apart are suffused with tension and emotional weight. Enlightened and irrevocably changed, Matthew endures a physical journey that mirrors his psychological one. The novel resists the temptation of sentimental resolution, leaving the reader with a deeper understanding of a story of awakening in a fractured, beautiful and unjust world.
Worlds Apart is not just a love story, or even a political thriller, but a meditation on displacement, moral awakening, and the tender brutality of finding one’s way through the tumult of adolescence. Tom Eubanks writes with clarity, crafting characters that feel profoundly real and moments that resonate long after the final page. For readers interested in coming-of-age narratives, historical fiction, and cross-cultural storytelling, this novel is an unforgettable journey."