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The Silent Code
A queer teen is dead. The town calls it an accident. The anonymous tip says otherwise.
When investigative journalist Lee Harding receives a chilling encrypted message about the death of 13-year-old Zale Ramirez in rural Virginia, he knows the official story won’t hold. Harmony Creek is the kind of town that protects its own—especially when the truth threatens its carefully polished image.
But as Lee digs deeper, what begins as a single tragedy unravels into a pattern of silence, complicity, and quiet violence aimed at those who don't fit the mold. Armed with his gut instincts, a haunted past, and a network of allies who refuse to let this story be buried, Lee will stop at nothing to break the code of silence that’s already claimed too many lives.
Gripping, emotional, and unflinching, The Silent Code is the third installment in The Harding Reports—a raw, investigative thriller series that lays bare the intersections of truth, trauma, and power in the shadows of American institutions.
When investigative journalist Lee Harding receives a chilling encrypted message about the death of 13-year-old Zale Ramirez in rural Virginia, he knows the official story won’t hold. Harmony Creek is the kind of town that protects its own—especially when the truth threatens its carefully polished image.
But as Lee digs deeper, what begins as a single tragedy unravels into a pattern of silence, complicity, and quiet violence aimed at those who don't fit the mold. Armed with his gut instincts, a haunted past, and a network of allies who refuse to let this story be buried, Lee will stop at nothing to break the code of silence that’s already claimed too many lives.
Gripping, emotional, and unflinching, The Silent Code is the third installment in The Harding Reports—a raw, investigative thriller series that lays bare the intersections of truth, trauma, and power in the shadows of American institutions.
231 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 9, 2025
About the author
Brandon Cloud
202 booksBrandon Cloud writes queer fiction that bruises with honesty, heals without permission, and refuses to look away. A retired RN with an MSN and MBA, he now channels a lifetime of trauma, dark humor, and hard-won love into emotionally raw, character-driven stories.
A survivor of conversion therapy, cancer, and one abusive relationship too many, Brandon doesn’t write to explain queerness—he writes to honor it. His characters are complex, flawed, tender, and real. They’re queer, yes—but that’s not the whole story. His mission is to create LGBTQ+ fiction where being gay isn’t the entire plot. It’s important to tell queer stories—all of them—not just the tragic, the sanitized, or the simplified.
His novels (The Unspoken Cord, Reverb in the Fog, The Bleeding Heart, and others) explore love, grief, identity, legacy, and the slow, brutal work of becoming whole.
When not writing, Brandon is managing hotels, walking his chaos goblin chihuahua Daisy, or deep in a narrative video game with a Diet Dr. Pepper in hand. He believes in chosen family, joyful defiance, and telling the truth—especially when it’s inconvenient.
🖤 www.theclobra.com
📚 amazon.com/author/theclobra
A survivor of conversion therapy, cancer, and one abusive relationship too many, Brandon doesn’t write to explain queerness—he writes to honor it. His characters are complex, flawed, tender, and real. They’re queer, yes—but that’s not the whole story. His mission is to create LGBTQ+ fiction where being gay isn’t the entire plot. It’s important to tell queer stories—all of them—not just the tragic, the sanitized, or the simplified.
His novels (The Unspoken Cord, Reverb in the Fog, The Bleeding Heart, and others) explore love, grief, identity, legacy, and the slow, brutal work of becoming whole.
When not writing, Brandon is managing hotels, walking his chaos goblin chihuahua Daisy, or deep in a narrative video game with a Diet Dr. Pepper in hand. He believes in chosen family, joyful defiance, and telling the truth—especially when it’s inconvenient.
🖤 www.theclobra.com
📚 amazon.com/author/theclobra
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