Trail of the Fallen
A Tommy Smith High Country Noir, Book Four
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- $29.99
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- $29.99
Publisher Description
A suspense-filled western noir thriller set in California's Sierra mountains—for readers of Craig Johnson and C. J. Box.
Tommy Smith, former sniper and Army combat veteran, wants nothing more than to be left alone to raise his young family with his deputy-sheriff wife, Sarah, as they run a wilderness outfitting business in the eastern Sierra ranching country where they grew up.
A mass breakout at Folsom Prison shatters their mountain idyll and brings back the PTSD that Tommy hoped he'd left on the battlefields of Afghanistan. Although Folsom is a hundred fifty miles west, every new atrocity by the convicted killers places them closer and closer to Tommy and his family. The escape follows by some months the theft of prototype high-end sniper rifles from the nearby Marine base, a theft that the Corps was trying to keep as quiet as possible. Soon, Tommy discovers that the list of escapees includes a name he never wanted to hear again—that of Sarah's psychopathic first husband, whom Tommy had helped put in prison. Sidelined by law enforcement because of his closeness to the case, Tommy strikes out horseback and alone in a blizzard, where he must overcome his own demons to fight the all-too-real demon waiting for him up the trail.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A crisis hits too close to home for Tommy Smith in Paul's action-packed fourth outing for the former Army staff sergeant and current wilderness outfitter in the California Sierras (after 2019's See That My Grave Is Kept Clean). When as many as 20 convicts, hiding in a laundry truck, kill the truck's driver and escape from Folsom Prison, law enforcement turns for help to Smith, because of his expert knowledge of the terrain and combat skills. The escaped convicts include the leader of a skinhead gang, a murderer and child rapist, and Kip Isringhausen, the ex-husband of Smith's wife, a Fremont County deputy sheriff. The Smiths fear that Isringhausen is coming for them, and the federal investigators worry that the breakout is connected to the theft of dozens of Marine high-powered sniper rifles. Smith joins the hunt for the escapees, even as a disturbing find at his house suggests that his family is already in extreme danger. That Smith, who did a tour in Afghanistan, suffers from PTSD doesn't help matters. Paul perfectly balances plot and characters, and the fast pace will keep readers turning pages and wanting more. Ace Atkins fans will be pleased.
