Book 2
A body is found alongside a river in Rocky Mountain National Park, missing its eyes and with an X carved in its chest. At the same time, a wealthy couple are killed in a manner that could only mean the paramilitary rogues that brought war to Eden Falls in The Ranger are out for blood again.
Remington Dean will face new challenges, new mysteries, and new developments as his investigation takes him higher into the mountains. Rhett Windsor emerges as an unexpected ally, while Dean once again relies on Detective Sadie Donovan, Agents Samuels and Marino, and reporter Ashleigh Storms to bring down the violent team of mercenaries- and the people behind them.
High in the mountains, a new community emerges providing sanctuary for those driven off their land by the machinations of the wealthy and corrupt in the valley, the Switchbacks. As Dean and friends fight to save the community and find answers, he will find clues to the one mystery he cannot let go- the murder of his wife.
Action, mystery, romance, and humor await in the follow-up to The Ranger:
Switchbacks
The Rocky Mountain Gothic continues!
Switchbacks
- “They don’t worry me much. Racist rednecks are by definition stupid, and stupid always trumps dangerous.” - Remington Dean
- Dean shrugged. “I believe that all souls go to Heaven or Hell. If I send someone there prematurely, I wanna make sure I give them the chance to choose the better of two options."
- Pickett: “I’m serious. You think killing a lot of men might have an effect on your own eternal destination? Like, God frowns on killing, right?”
Dean: “Just because I’m good at it, doesn’t mean I enjoy it. But to answer your question…yeah. I think about that all the time.
- “Awfully arrogant for a man with a head wound, on his knees, and surrounded by armed men.”
Dean smiled. “What can I say? I’m a Texan.”
- “Not necessarily. When you take a man’s life, you lose a bit of yours. Now, you take a bit of his, too. But takin’ on another man’s burden like that is sort of like a square peg in a round hole. It turns and tears and wears you down until all you once were is changed. Maybe even gone forever.”-- Dean
- “They’re mountain folks, Mike,” Dean said. “They ain’t stupid, but they are simple. That’s not a bad thing, but it makes them different. Their land is part of ‘em. Without it, they don’t know who they are. So they’ll reject anything that might take that away from them. It’s why they always treated Rhett- and I suppose Rhiannon- that way. They fear even their own people if it poses a risk to their mountain. Even to the point of gunplay.”
- The facade of the politician had vanished, if only for a moment, but Reece had regained his composure. He asked, “So, you don’t think America loves heroes?”
Dean shrugged. “For a moment. Then someone else catches their fancy. I figure that old saying about fifteen minutes of fame is about right. Then, say a few years go by, and if the ‘hero,’” Dean made air quotes, “Is lucky, the world forgets them. If not, the world will remember just enough to start lookin’ for a flaw. For a mistake. Something they said one time and society now finds those words ill-fittin’ for polite society. They sacrifice that hero, in the same public spotlight they lauded them in. Then it’s on to the next big story.”
- Or maybe there is still a part of me that wishes my job was still savin’ souls rather than sendin’ them to meet their Maker.” –Dean
- “True, but I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt.”
“About what?”
Dean shrugged. “That you were smart enough to leave town before I got to you.”