“[So] good I wish I’d written it. The poetic and bloody ground of west Texas has given birth to a powerful new voice in contemporary western crime fiction.”—Craig Johnson, New York Times bestselling author of the Walt Longmire series In this gritty crime debut set in the stark Texas borderlands, an unearthed skeleton will throw a small town into violent turmoil. Seventeen-year-old Caleb Ross is adrift in the wake of the sudden disappearance of his mother more than a year ago, and is struggling to find his way out of the small Texas border town of Murfee. Chris Cherry is a newly minted sheriff’s deputy, a high school football hero who has reluctantly returned to his hometown. When skeletal remains are discovered in the surrounding badlands, the two are inexorably drawn together as their efforts to uncover Murfee’s darkest secrets lead them to the same terrifying suspect: Caleb’s father and Chris’s boss, the charismatic and feared Sheriff Standford “Judge” Ross. Dark, elegiac, and violent, The Far Empty is a modern Western, a story of loss and escape set along the sharp edge of the Texas border. Told by a longtime federal agent who knows the region, it’s a debut novel you won’t soon forget.

Even though the corrupt Sheriff Ross is dead and gone, outlaws still walk free, peace comes at a price, and redemption remains hard to find in this fiery and violent novel from the author of The Far Empty.   Sometimes we have to be wolves...   In the wake of Sheriff Stanford Ross’s death, former deputy Chris Cherry—now Sheriff Cherry—is the new “law” in Big Bend County, yet he still struggles to escape the long, dark shadow of that infamous lawman. As Chris tries to remake and modernize his corrupt department, bringing in new deputies, including young America Reynosa and Ben Harper—a hard-edged veteran homicide detective now lured out of retirement—he finds himself constantly staring down a town unwilling to change, friends and enemies unable to let go of the past, and the harsh limits of his badge.But it''s only when a local Rio Grande guide is brutally and inexplicably murdered, and America and Ben''s ongoing investigation is swept aside by a secretive federal agent, that the novice sheriff truly understands just how tenuous his hold on that badge really is. And as other new threats rise right along with the unforgiving West Texas sun, nothing can prepare Chris for the high cost of crossing dangerous men such as John Wesley Earl, a high-ranking member of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas and the patriarch of a murderous clan that''s descended on Chris’s hometown of Murfee; or Thurman Flowers, a part-time pastor and full-time white supremacist hell-bent on founding his violent Church of Purity in the very heart of the Big Bend.Before long, Chris, America, and Ben are outmaneuvered, outnumbered, and outgunned—inexorably drawn into a nearly twenty-year vendetta that began with a murdered Texas Ranger on a dusty highway outside of Sweetwater, and that can only end with fire, blood, and bullets in Murfee’s own sun-scorched streets...Welcome back to the Big Bend...

17 year-old Caleb Ross is adrift in the wake of the sudden disappearance of his mother a year ago, and is struggling to find his way out of the small Texas border town of Murfee. Chris Cherry is a newly minted Sheriff's Deputy, a high school football hero who's reluctantly returned to his hometown. When skeletal remains are discovered in the surrounding badlands, the two are inexorably drawn together as their efforts to uncover Murfee's darkest secrets lead them to the same terrifying suspect: Caleb's father and Chris's boss, the charismatic and feared Sheriff Ross.

Im mexikanischen Grenzgebiet wird am helllichten Tag ein BUs mit protestierenden Studenten beschossen. Eine Gewalttat, die dem Nemesio-Kartell angelastet wird. Doch der alternde Anführer, Fox Uno, sieht den Angriff als das, was er ist: ein weiteres Störfeuer im lang andauernden Kampf mit ein rivalisierendes Kartell. Auf der anderen Seite des Rio Grande werden Sheriff Chris Cherry und seine Hilfssheriffs AmericaReynosa und Danny Ford in den eskalierenden Krieg hineingezogen, nachdem fünf tote Männer am Flussufer gefunden wurden. Als der DEA-Agent Joe Garrison aus El Paso im Rahmen seiner Ermittlungen nach Big Bend kommt, ist er nicht bereit, den Rückzug oder die Niederlage desKartellführers zu akzeptieren. Er hegt nicht nur den Verdacht, dass eine hochkarätige Drogen-Sondereinheit in einem benachbarten Bezirk korrupt ist, sondern auch Zweifel an der Loyalität Reynosas. In Big Bend kommt es zu einem erbarmungslosen Showdown, der über die Zukunft von America Reynosa entscheidet.

Der siebzehnjährige Caleb Ross lebt seit dem Verschwinden seiner Mutter vor Monaten mit seinem autoritären Vater zusammen. Dem despotischen Sheriff von Big Bend County, den sie den "Richter" nennen und dessen Brutalität und Rücksichtslosigkeit legendär ist. Er behauptet, seine Frau habe ihn wegen eines anderen Mannes verlassen. Sein Sohn jedoch ist sicher, dass seine Mutter ein gewaltsames Ende fand und sein Vater hinter all dem steckt. Als in der Nähe eines Grenzübergangs für illegale Einwanderer Skelettüberreste entdeckt werden, beginnt der frisch gebackene stellvertretende Sheriff Chris Cherry, ein High-School-Football-Held, an seinem Chef zu zweifeln. Gemeinsam mit Caleb stellt er sich Murfee''s dunkelstem Geheimnis, das zu demselben charismatischen und gefürchteten Verdächtigen führt: Calebs Vater und Chris'' Chef.

Chefs Stanford Ross zum Sheriff von Big Bend County befördert worden. Er macht sich daran, in seiner Stadt und seinem Department aufzuräumen. Als die Leiche von Billy Bravo, einem Flussführer am Rio Grande, mit zerschmettertem Schädel aufgefunden wird, kennt Cherry nur eine Gruppe, die zu solch brutaler Gewalt fähig ist: die Aryan Brotherhood of Texas. Sie will in der Geisterstadt Killing eine "rein arische" Siedlung errichten. Ist man ihnen beigetreten, gibt es keine Möglichkeit, wieder auszutreten und am Leben zu bleiben. Wer überläuft, stirbt, genau wie jeder, der sich ihnen in den Weg stellt. Chris und seine neuen Deputys Ben Harper und America Reynosa ermitteln gegen den Anführer. Doch der Gerechtigkeit Genüge zu leisten, ist nicht so einfach, wie Cherry es sich erhofft hat.

Lightning never strikes twice —until it does. A killer is hunting down survivors of lightning strikes in this dark and twisting thriller, perfect for fans of J. H. Markert and Richard Chizmar.Everything changed for Andi Ellis when she was struck by lightning and her heart stopped. Andi was resuscitated, but she was never the same—electronics strangely malfunction in her presence: clocks can’t keep time; batteries swiftly die. And while many lightning strike victims are left with temporary "lightning tree" markings, on her they are permanent scars. Years later Andi, her eight-year-old daughter, and a fellow lightning strike survivor have fled Texas and Andi’s dangerous ex to go off the grid in a strange and secluded desert community. Meanwhile, two private investigators pursue a US senator's missing daughter who they find too late. When searching for information on the strange lightning scars on the girl's body, they find themselves pulled into an FBI investigation—people who have been struck by lightning are being murdered. As the death toll mounts, the task force traces the killer farther west—closer and closer to Andi Ellis and her daughter, and the haven she's carefully created. Thriller and horror readers will be enthralled by the dark turns in Scar the Sky.

"Everything you could want in a West Texas crime saga: generational conflicts; the sights and smells of an exotic landscape; the ghosts of monsters and loved ones past."--The Wall Street JournalEven though the corrupt Sheriff Ross is dead and gone, outlaws still walk free, peace comes at a price, and redemption remains hard to find in this fiery and violent novel from the author of The Far Empty.In the wake of Sheriff Stanford Ross's death, former deputy Chris Cherry--now Sheriff Cherry--is the new "law" in Big Bend County, yet he still struggles to escape the shadow of that infamous lawman. As Chris tries to remake and modernize his corrupt department, bringing in new deputies, including young America Reynosa and Ben Harper--a hard-edged veteran homicide detective now lured out of retirement--he finds himself constantly staring down a town unwilling to change, friends and enemies unable to let go of the past, and the harsh limits of his badge.But it's only when a local Rio Grande guide is brutally and inexplicably murdered, and America and Ben's ongoing investigation is swept aside by a secretive federal agent, that the novice sheriff truly understands just how tenuous his hold on that badge really is. And as other new threats rise right along with the unforgiving West Texas sun, nothing can prepare Chris for the high cost of crossing dangerous men such as John Wesley Earl, a high-ranking member of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas and the patriarch of a murderous clan that's descended on Chris's hometown of Murfee; or Thurman Flowers, a part-time pastor and full-time white supremacist hell-bent on founding his violent Church of Purity in the very heart of the Big Bend.Before long, Chris, America, and Ben are outmaneuvered, outnumbered, and outgunned--drawn into a nearly twenty-year vendetta that began with a murdered Texas Ranger on a dusty highway outside of Sweetwater, and that can only end with fire, blood, and bullets in Murfee's own sun-scorched streets...

“[So] good I wish I’d written it. The poetic and bloody ground of west Texas has given birth to a powerful new voice in contemporary western crime fiction.”—Craig Johnson, New York Times bestselling author of the Walt Longmire series In this gritty crime debut set in the stark Texas borderlands, an unearthed skeleton will throw a small town into violent turmoil. Seventeen-year-old Caleb Ross is adrift in the wake of the sudden disappearance of his mother more than a year ago, and is struggling to find his way out of the small Texas border town of Murfee. Chris Cherry is a newly minted sheriff’s deputy, a high school football hero who has reluctantly returned to his hometown. When skeletal remains are discovered in the surrounding badlands, the two are inexorably drawn together as their efforts to uncover Murfee’s darkest secrets lead them to the same terrifying suspect: Caleb’s father and Chris’s boss, the charismatic and feared Sheriff Standford “Judge” Ross. Dark, elegiac, and violent, The Far Empty is a modern Western, a story of loss and escape set along the sharp edge of the Texas border. Told by a longtime federal agent who knows the region, it’s a debut novel you won’t soon forget.

Even though the corrupt Sheriff Ross is dead and gone, outlaws still walk free, peace comes at a price, and redemption remains hard to find in this fiery and violent novel from the author of The Far Empty.   Sometimes we have to be wolves...   In the wake of Sheriff Stanford Ross’s death, former deputy Chris Cherry—now Sheriff Cherry—is the new “law” in Big Bend County, yet he still struggles to escape the long, dark shadow of that infamous lawman. As Chris tries to remake and modernize his corrupt department, bringing in new deputies, including young America Reynosa and Ben Harper—a hard-edged veteran homicide detective now lured out of retirement—he finds himself constantly staring down a town unwilling to change, friends and enemies unable to let go of the past, and the harsh limits of his badge.But it''s only when a local Rio Grande guide is brutally and inexplicably murdered, and America and Ben''s ongoing investigation is swept aside by a secretive federal agent, that the novice sheriff truly understands just how tenuous his hold on that badge really is. And as other new threats rise right along with the unforgiving West Texas sun, nothing can prepare Chris for the high cost of crossing dangerous men such as John Wesley Earl, a high-ranking member of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas and the patriarch of a murderous clan that''s descended on Chris’s hometown of Murfee; or Thurman Flowers, a part-time pastor and full-time white supremacist hell-bent on founding his violent Church of Purity in the very heart of the Big Bend.Before long, Chris, America, and Ben are outmaneuvered, outnumbered, and outgunned—inexorably drawn into a nearly twenty-year vendetta that began with a murdered Texas Ranger on a dusty highway outside of Sweetwater, and that can only end with fire, blood, and bullets in Murfee’s own sun-scorched streets...Welcome back to the Big Bend...

17 year-old Caleb Ross is adrift in the wake of the sudden disappearance of his mother a year ago, and is struggling to find his way out of the small Texas border town of Murfee. Chris Cherry is a newly minted Sheriff's Deputy, a high school football hero who's reluctantly returned to his hometown. When skeletal remains are discovered in the surrounding badlands, the two are inexorably drawn together as their efforts to uncover Murfee's darkest secrets lead them to the same terrifying suspect: Caleb's father and Chris's boss, the charismatic and feared Sheriff Ross.

Im mexikanischen Grenzgebiet wird am helllichten Tag ein BUs mit protestierenden Studenten beschossen. Eine Gewalttat, die dem Nemesio-Kartell angelastet wird. Doch der alternde Anführer, Fox Uno, sieht den Angriff als das, was er ist: ein weiteres Störfeuer im lang andauernden Kampf mit ein rivalisierendes Kartell. Auf der anderen Seite des Rio Grande werden Sheriff Chris Cherry und seine Hilfssheriffs AmericaReynosa und Danny Ford in den eskalierenden Krieg hineingezogen, nachdem fünf tote Männer am Flussufer gefunden wurden. Als der DEA-Agent Joe Garrison aus El Paso im Rahmen seiner Ermittlungen nach Big Bend kommt, ist er nicht bereit, den Rückzug oder die Niederlage desKartellführers zu akzeptieren. Er hegt nicht nur den Verdacht, dass eine hochkarätige Drogen-Sondereinheit in einem benachbarten Bezirk korrupt ist, sondern auch Zweifel an der Loyalität Reynosas. In Big Bend kommt es zu einem erbarmungslosen Showdown, der über die Zukunft von America Reynosa entscheidet.

Der siebzehnjährige Caleb Ross lebt seit dem Verschwinden seiner Mutter vor Monaten mit seinem autoritären Vater zusammen. Dem despotischen Sheriff von Big Bend County, den sie den "Richter" nennen und dessen Brutalität und Rücksichtslosigkeit legendär ist. Er behauptet, seine Frau habe ihn wegen eines anderen Mannes verlassen. Sein Sohn jedoch ist sicher, dass seine Mutter ein gewaltsames Ende fand und sein Vater hinter all dem steckt. Als in der Nähe eines Grenzübergangs für illegale Einwanderer Skelettüberreste entdeckt werden, beginnt der frisch gebackene stellvertretende Sheriff Chris Cherry, ein High-School-Football-Held, an seinem Chef zu zweifeln. Gemeinsam mit Caleb stellt er sich Murfee''s dunkelstem Geheimnis, das zu demselben charismatischen und gefürchteten Verdächtigen führt: Calebs Vater und Chris'' Chef.

Chefs Stanford Ross zum Sheriff von Big Bend County befördert worden. Er macht sich daran, in seiner Stadt und seinem Department aufzuräumen. Als die Leiche von Billy Bravo, einem Flussführer am Rio Grande, mit zerschmettertem Schädel aufgefunden wird, kennt Cherry nur eine Gruppe, die zu solch brutaler Gewalt fähig ist: die Aryan Brotherhood of Texas. Sie will in der Geisterstadt Killing eine "rein arische" Siedlung errichten. Ist man ihnen beigetreten, gibt es keine Möglichkeit, wieder auszutreten und am Leben zu bleiben. Wer überläuft, stirbt, genau wie jeder, der sich ihnen in den Weg stellt. Chris und seine neuen Deputys Ben Harper und America Reynosa ermitteln gegen den Anführer. Doch der Gerechtigkeit Genüge zu leisten, ist nicht so einfach, wie Cherry es sich erhofft hat.

Lightning never strikes twice —until it does. A killer is hunting down survivors of lightning strikes in this dark and twisting thriller, perfect for fans of J. H. Markert and Richard Chizmar.Everything changed for Andi Ellis when she was struck by lightning and her heart stopped. Andi was resuscitated, but she was never the same—electronics strangely malfunction in her presence: clocks can’t keep time; batteries swiftly die. And while many lightning strike victims are left with temporary "lightning tree" markings, on her they are permanent scars. Years later Andi, her eight-year-old daughter, and a fellow lightning strike survivor have fled Texas and Andi’s dangerous ex to go off the grid in a strange and secluded desert community. Meanwhile, two private investigators pursue a US senator's missing daughter who they find too late. When searching for information on the strange lightning scars on the girl's body, they find themselves pulled into an FBI investigation—people who have been struck by lightning are being murdered. As the death toll mounts, the task force traces the killer farther west—closer and closer to Andi Ellis and her daughter, and the haven she's carefully created. Thriller and horror readers will be enthralled by the dark turns in Scar the Sky.

"Everything you could want in a West Texas crime saga: generational conflicts; the sights and smells of an exotic landscape; the ghosts of monsters and loved ones past."--The Wall Street JournalEven though the corrupt Sheriff Ross is dead and gone, outlaws still walk free, peace comes at a price, and redemption remains hard to find in this fiery and violent novel from the author of The Far Empty.In the wake of Sheriff Stanford Ross's death, former deputy Chris Cherry--now Sheriff Cherry--is the new "law" in Big Bend County, yet he still struggles to escape the shadow of that infamous lawman. As Chris tries to remake and modernize his corrupt department, bringing in new deputies, including young America Reynosa and Ben Harper--a hard-edged veteran homicide detective now lured out of retirement--he finds himself constantly staring down a town unwilling to change, friends and enemies unable to let go of the past, and the harsh limits of his badge.But it's only when a local Rio Grande guide is brutally and inexplicably murdered, and America and Ben's ongoing investigation is swept aside by a secretive federal agent, that the novice sheriff truly understands just how tenuous his hold on that badge really is. And as other new threats rise right along with the unforgiving West Texas sun, nothing can prepare Chris for the high cost of crossing dangerous men such as John Wesley Earl, a high-ranking member of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas and the patriarch of a murderous clan that's descended on Chris's hometown of Murfee; or Thurman Flowers, a part-time pastor and full-time white supremacist hell-bent on founding his violent Church of Purity in the very heart of the Big Bend.Before long, Chris, America, and Ben are outmaneuvered, outnumbered, and outgunned--drawn into a nearly twenty-year vendetta that began with a murdered Texas Ranger on a dusty highway outside of Sweetwater, and that can only end with fire, blood, and bullets in Murfee's own sun-scorched streets...