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Inside Outside Then Back In — A Novel by Justin Erickson
Inside Outside Then Back In: Book One: Inside — A Novel by Justin Erickson. Book cover showing the title in white and gold against black vertical bars.
Book One of the Trilogy

INSIDE OUTSIDE then BACK IN

Justin Erickson

"Some patterns are easier to see
than they are to break."

Kindle · $7.99 Hardcover · $29.99

Pre-Order Now · March 20, 2026

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The holding tank. The fluorescent lights. The smell of bleach and desperation.

The collect calls
that go unanswered.

Jason McTanner
has been here before.

Booking Intake Dakota County Jail
Name:
McTanner, Jason R.
DOB:
██/██/1996
Age:
29
Charge:
DUI — Probation Hold
Prior:
See attached (7 pages)
"This time was supposed to be different."

Growing up in foster care, Jason learned early that stability was something that happened to other people.

The Cycle
Age 8
Foster care. The first of seven homes.
Age 15
First stint in juvie. Won't be the last.
Age 23
Felony record. The system knows his name now.
Age 29
Two kids. A woman who finally gave up. A DUI that triggered a probation hold. Back inside.

Maya stops answering. His kids start forgetting.

Automated System · Dakota County Jail

You have a collect call from
an inmate at Dakota County Jail.

To accept, press 1.

···

Call Not Accepted

The man she's replaced him with is everything Jason never learned how to be: stable, reliable, present.

Then tragedy strikes
and his daughter ends up in surgery.

The Reckoning

Jason must confront the truth he's been running from since he was thirteen years old: the patterns we inherit don't have to be the patterns we pass on.

Inside Outside Then Back In is a raw, unflinching portrait of incarceration, addiction, and the brutal cost of breaking free from cycles that span generations.

This is not a story about the system as villain — it's about the thousand small choices that lead a man into a cell, and the impossible fight to make different choices on the way out.

"Some patterns are easier to see
than they are to break."

What This Book Is

Inside Outside Then Back In is not a prison drama. It's not an addiction memoir in novel form. It's not a story that lets anyone off the hook — not the system, not the family, and not Jason himself.

It's the story of what happens when the only world you've ever known is the one that keeps pulling you back. When the people who should have taught you how to be a man were never taught themselves. When breaking a generational cycle means becoming someone no one in your family has ever been.

Book One: Inside. Because you have to understand the cell before you can understand the escape.

The Trilogy
01
Inside
↗ Pre-Order Now
02
Outside
Coming Soon
03
Then Back In
Coming Soon
JE
Justin Erickson
Founder of Local Home Buyers USA and PropTechUSA.ai. Some stories demand to be told by someone who understands what it means to build something from nothing — and what it costs when the world keeps trying to put you back where it thinks you belong.

"Some patterns are easier to see than they are to break."

INSIDE OUTSIDE
THEN BACK IN

Kindle · $7.99 → Hardcover · $29.99 →

Book One: Inside · March 20, 2026