Service Before Self recounts the troubled relationship of a father and his son. Told in alternating points-of-view, the novel allows the reader to get into the minds of the two proud individuals as they struggle to cope with their disappointments and demons.

For the first time in his life, Air Force Lieutenant General Ron Cody has nothing to do. His retirement ceremony two days before had been wonderful. The event had, however, been marred by the absence of Ron's 19-year-old son, Josh. Among the sacrifices Ron made in his pursuit of career success was time with his family. His strained relationship with Josh is testament to that sacrifice. Attempts to motivate his son led to resentment and distrust. If only Josh could look up to Ron as Ron looked up to his own father, a man he had never known. George Cody had died during the D-Day invasion when Ron was only five years old.

The bitterness Josh feels is due to his father having been largely absent for most of his childhood. The General's Air Force service just seemed more important. Josh also resented his father's expectation of perfection. Nothing Josh did was good enough for his old man. Josh had learned a painful lesson when Ron withheld college funds after Josh didn't earn the B average his father deemed the minimum acceptable grades. In anger, Josh had moved out of the house and was working two menial jobs just to pay his expenses.

Ron must deal with his feelings of confusion and worthlessness due to the abrupt end of his career and the sorry state of his family. He is further rocked by increasing doubts that his own father was the war hero Ron had been led to believe.

For Josh, things look up when he meets a young woman and eventually becomes close to her nine-year-old son. When the woman returns to the abusive man who had fathered her son, Josh's world threatens to collapse.

As events unfold, both men discover that there is more than one way to serve. Even more consequentially, they are forced to confront the tremendous power and importance of the father-son bond.

Service Before Self is Steve Simon's second novel, following 2000's On the Dead Run (Xlibris Corporation).