The Pacifist

The Pacifisticon

by Lyn Bixby

Publisher
Rootstock Publishing
Publication
Jan 06, 2026
Format
Paperback/Softback
Illustrated
No
Price
$19.99
Dimensions
6 x 9 x 0.64 in
ISBN
978-1578692118
ASIN
1578692113
Pages
282
Age
Adult 18+
Category
ThrillersHistorical FictionMilitary Fiction

Rights Sold

🌍 World Wide Rights Available

Description

A Sister’s Quest for Justice.

In the fall of 1968, the deadliest year of the Vietnam war for Americans, Lisa Thompson, a back-to-the-land hippie living at her family's Vermont farm, is cutting firewood when a stranger shows up to warn her the FBI might be investigating her brother Chris, a Boston anti-war activist who was seriously injured when drafted. Chris had reported to an Army base where he refused induction and was taken away unconscious in an ambulance. The Army says he accidentally fell. Lisa doesn't believe it and heads to Boston to uncover the truth, but Chris dies before she can find out what happened to him. In a quest for justice, Lisa faces two of the most powerful institutions in the world-the Army and the FBI. But the Vietnam war and the draft have transformed America into a combat zone where protesters are under attack as enemies of the nation. With the help of a civil rights lawyer, a newspaper editor, and a combat veteran, Lisa navigates a labyrinth of lies and murders to confront her brother's killer, and keep his legacy alive.

From Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Lyn Bixby, inspired by the death of his college classmate in Vietnam, The Pacifist is a debut suspense thriller about standing up to power gone bad.

Awards & Endorsements

Melanie Finn, author of The Hare, winner of the 2021 Vermont Book Award for fiction

“The Pacifist is an unnervingly timely novel. Set in the fall of 1968, at a time when America was tearing itself apart, this literary thriller unpacks the anti-war movement in Boston through a ragtag cast of Vietnam vets, hippies, pacifists, and undercover operatives. Author Lyn Bixby, a journalist and veteran, writes with urgency, panache, and deep compassion. The book reminds us that we've been here before—and that when a government turns on its own people, you’d better be ready to fight back with truth.”

Kirkus Reviews
“Bixby’s novel reads like a taut thriller, with secrets and lies propelling the reader through the pages as dubious agents, a gang, and FBI informants round out the cast of characters. It’s hard to put down…”

Author(s)

Lyn Bixby

Lyn Bixby

Lyn Bixby protested against the Vietnam War before he received his military draft letter weeks after graduating in 1969 from Colby College in Waterville, Maine. He passed his physical and was ordered to join the Army, serving at Fort Dix, N.J., Fort Bliss, Texas, and at a number of bases on Okinawa before he was discharged because the Army couldn’t turn him into a soldier.

He found a job at a suburban Connecticut daily newspaper as a newsroom clerk, was promoted to reporter and spent most of his career at the state’s largest newspaper, The Hartford Courant, working primarily on its special projects desk as an investigative reporter focused on corruption. Some projects gave him opportunities to dig into issues raised in his debut novel, The Pacifist. During his newspaper career he received a range of prestigious writing awards, including a shared Pulitzer Prize.

He and his wife Debbie were married in 1979 and live in northern Vermont. They have two sons and three grandchildren.

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