For Vietnam veteran turned wildlife ranger Nick Drake, the war at home proves just as deadly. A contemporary western thriller. Harney County, Oregon, 1968: Nick Drake has a chest full of medals and enough demons to fill a duffle bag. He’s been trained to kill, but never retrained to rejoin society. Drake flees to the lonesome high desert in search of redemption and takes a job patrolling wildlife refuges where the only conflicts are keeping out stray cows and ticketing poachers. But then he stumbles across a girl’s body ritually placed in a gully. Her murder is only the beginning, and Drake must face humanity’s heart of darkness once again if he’s to stop a killer from turning even more gullies into graves.

What readers are saying: ★★★★★ Fits right alongside Craig Johnson, C.J. Box, and Nevada Barr. ★★★★★ I’m a huge fan of contemporary westerns married with a mystery. This nails it. ★★★★★ Nick Drake is wonderfully complex. His backstory in Vietnam is beautifully (and horrifically) described. ★★★★★ The supporting characters feel so real. The old lawman, Deputy Pudge Warbler, is as flinty and resolute as his pitiless territory. ★★★★★ I absolutely loved the Native American character, her language and myths. ★★★★★ Got it on Friday and finished it on Saturday. An amazing read. ★★★★★ Smart, thrilling, and action-packed. ★★★★★ The prose crackles like the high desert setting. ★★★★★ The descriptions of the natural surroundings put me right there. I could touch, smell, and hear it.

Author Biography

Dwight Holing is the award-winning author of twenty books, including two popular mystery series: the acclaimed Nick Drake Novels and the witty Jack McCoul Capers. His genre-spanning work includes stand-alone novels, short story collections, and books on natural history, conservation, wildlife, and outdoor travel. He lives beside a coastal river in California with his wife and two dogs who’d rather swim than walk.

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