This Will Kill You

This Will Kill You starts with a bang and takes off on a roller coaster ride, then comes to a screeching halt as the reader suddenly finds himself in a different, but more wonderful story entirely.

An Iraq war vet living in Yreka, California, Jason Cassidy works on the Klamath River, wants to write books or go back to war. He can’t figure it out. He starts off writing an action/thriller, but needing help with the plot, he enlists his Forest Service buddy, Jack.

Life takes matters out of his hands, though. His girlfriend reveals she’s pregnant, he suspects it’s no accident, but marries her, and finds himself falling in love and enjoying marriage. Jason Cassidy may not always like doing the right thing, but he does his duty because he prides himself on having a good character. It’s his touchstone and guiding light in a world of people given to paths of least resistance and self-aggrandizement.

When called to fight a fire in the Trinity Alps, he and his crew encounter unexpected danger that tests his courage in the face of death for the first time despite his prior military service.

This Will Kill You is a tale of a noble, sometimes caustic young man confronting an ignoble world, finding and feeling his way through confusing times and perfidious people. Along the way, he finds enough hope and glory to maintain integrity and honor, even when it breaks his heart.

A startling and intense novel, it’s packed with incisive observations and tart appraisals by a curious soul trying to make sense of life. His parallel and painful learning curve illustrates a man becoming more than he knew how to be.