Ricky Alvarez has always had a talent for finding trouble. Damon Wilson has always been smart enough to stay out of it.

When Ricky gets his hands on a flash drive that doesn’t belong to him, he turns to Damon—the quiet, brilliant classmate who’s been secretly crushing on him for years—to find out what’s inside. What begins as a reckless scheme for some easy money pulls the two teenagers into a world of corporate espionage, corruption, and powerful men who don’t appreciate having their secrets exposed.

At the center of that world is Marek Draganov, a sophisticated fixer who sees something in Ricky that others have overlooked. Rather than eliminate the problem Ricky has created, Marek gives him an opportunity to fix it—and opens a door Ricky may never be able to close.

As Ricky and Damon are drawn deeper into Marek’s world, their unlikely partnership begins to become something neither of them expected. Damon discovers there may be more beneath Ricky’s swagger than the troublemaking kid he’s admired from afar. Ricky discovers that the quiet nerd he barely noticed might be the one person he wants beside him when everything goes wrong.

Il Consigliere is a coming-of-age crime thriller about ambition, power, loyalty, and two boys whose first steps into the criminal world will change not only who they become, but what they become to each other.

Darran Smith Photography