The Wicked

by Matt Birkbeck

Overview

A star reporter who lost his journalistic edge to a life of glamor and excess attends the funeral of a Catholic priest in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania.
But when he questions the priest's death, he quickly recovers his investigative skills to learn this charming Pennsylvania tourist town – once the coal mining capital of the nation – has secrets so unimaginable, he finds himself in a deadly struggle for his new love, his life, and his very soul.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781732491731
Publisher:	Summerville
Publication date:	08/19/2025
Pages:	286
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 1.50(h) x 9.50(d)

About the Author

Matt Birkbeck is a best selling author and the executive producer of the 2022 hit Netflix film GIRL IN THE PICTURE, which is based on his books A BEAUTIFUL CHILD (Berkley/Penguin) and FINDING SHARON (Summerville), which tell the remarkable, tragic story of Sharon Marshall, a brilliant young woman who was kidnapped as a toddler by Franklin Delano Floyd, a convicted felon, fugitive, and pedophile who raised her as his daughter while traveling the country using stolen identities.

His books also include THE LIFE WE CHOSE, the true story of William "Big Billy" D'Elia (William Morrow/Harper Collins 2023), the former head of the Bufalino Crime Family and so-called "son" of Russell Bufalino, the most powerful organized crime figure of the 20th Century and once described by a U.S. Senate subcommittee as "one of the most ruthless and powerful leaders of the Mafia in the United States." Bufalino's legacy left a culture of corruption that continues to this day.

His first book on Bufalino is THE QUIET DON (Berkley/Penguin 2013).

He also wrote the critically acclaimed DECONSTRUCTING SAMMY: MUSIC, MONEY, MADNESS and the MOB (Amistad/Harper Collins 2008), the riveting story of Sammy Davis Jr. and the efforts to resolve his millions in debts and restore his legacy following his death in 1990. The New York Times Book Review called Deconstructing Sammy "Gripping" and "Sensational," and the Los Angeles Times called it "Epic."

And his book A DEADLY SECRET (Berkley/Putnam 2002 and 2015), explores the investigation into Robert Durst, the heir to a New York real estate fortune accused of killing his wife and two others. The book was adapted by Lifetime TV for its movie "The Lost Wife of Robert Durst," which aired in November 2017.