A Quiet Kind of Hero | Michael Jackson

New York City, 1983.

By day, twenty-three-year-old Michael is just a quiet, soft-spoken college student trying to keep his head down, survive brutal midterms, and scrape together rent by selling freelance photography to the Daily Bugle. By night, he trades his oversized sweaters for a mask, swinging across the rain-slicked concrete canyons of Manhattan to protect a city that rarely shows him any gratitude.

Twenty-one-year-old Max isn't looking to be saved, and she certainly isn't looking to be distracted. Brilliant, fiercely sharp, and armed with a dry wit that keeps everyone at arm's length, she's entirely focused on her studies. But when her path collides with Michael's nervous, clumsy charm, she finds herself noticing the things other people miss: the way he vanishes when trouble hits, the quiet weight he carries, and the countless bruises he tries so hard to hide.

Built on hurried coin-operated phone calls from brick alleyways, stolen glances beneath the red safety lights of the campus darkroom, and the agonizing tension of unspoken truths, their slow-burn connection deepens against the backdrop of an unforgiving city. Between managing his wealthy, troubled best friend Julian, keeping Aunt Clara from worrying over his latest injuries, and dodging the chaos of college life, Michael can outrun almost anything.

The real question is whether he can manage to keep his mask on around the one girl who is already beginning to see right through it.