The Least of Men
by Michael J. Collins

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Sixteen years ago, Chicago surgeon Dr. David Carroll lost everything. When Russian mafia boss Dimitri Barkov tried to seize Carroll’s medical practice, David refused. Barkov’s retaliation was swift and brutal—David’s wife murdered, federal agents gunned down, and David forced into hiding in the remote wilderness of Scotland’s Outer Hebrides. The world believed the story ended there, with David dead and the Barkov empire untouched. They were wrong. Now, in 2021, a far more disturbing criminal enterprise is flourishing—an international network trafficking young girls to wealthy clients who are willing to pay anything to satisfy their darkest desires. At its center stands Amy Arnold, a ruthless mastermind who has built her empire on violence, secrecy, and the belief that no one can stop her. But buried in the past is a man who has already lost everything—and men like that are the most dangerous of all. As investigators, criminals, and survivors collide across continents, old crimes resurface and long-hidden truths emerge. In a world where power protects the guilty and innocence is a rare commodity, justice may depend on the least likely champions. And the least of men may prove to be the most relentless.

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Former construction laborer, cab driver, and dock worker, Michael Collins is also the former chief resident in orthopedic surgery at the Mayo Clinic. He is the author of two acclaimed medical memoirs, Blue Collar, Blue Scrubs, a chronicle of his journey from laborer to physician, and Hot Lights, Cold Steel, a description of his years as resident and moonlighter in rural Minnesota emergency rooms. Mike has written two other works of fiction, the Vietnam War-era, All Bleeding Stops, and the medical mystery novel, The Shieling. His most recent book, Retired Ground, describes his fifty-year odyssey searching for meaning in wild places. Mike is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the Loyola Stritch School of Medicine. He and his wife, Patti, were born, raised, and still live on the West Side of Chicago. Since his first book’s publication in 2005, Mike has lectured nationwide on medicine and writing. He has served as the Alpha Omega Alpha Visiting Professor at both the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and at the University of Minnesota Medical School, where he also delivered the 2016 medical school commencement address.

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Michael J. Collins