Vendor
	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Sebastian Ritscher
Categories
Thriller / suspense fiction

CHEATGRASS

Bart Paul

Under Tower Peak was acclaimed by the Wall Street Journal as one of the Ten Best Mysteries of 2013. In this sequel, Tommy Smith, the Iraq War vet and former Eastern Sierra packer, is home from war after re-upping for a tour in Afghanistan.

When his old friend Dave Cathcart disappears from his ranch, Tommy answers the call to help find him. What he learns is that his love for Dave's daughter, his old flame Sarah Cathcart, has never died, but the country where he grew up is undergoing change. Stockmen are selling off water rights to the highest bidder, rendering ranches barren and the community bitter, as drugs and a dangerous new element have moved in. When Sarah confides that her husband, a smooth-talking entrepreneur, has lost her trust and may not be all he seems, Tommy begins to investigate. Soon another disappearance leads to a gruesome discovery, and a brutal sequence of events takes Sarah and Tommy to old haunts in the high country, where once again he will need to call on his sniper's skills to save them both and to rescue her missing father. This is a modern-day Western about cowboys with Cuban drug lords filling in for the Indians. With lean, efficient prose and dialogue that crackles with repartee, Bart Paul has delivered in CHEATGRASS a contemporary thriller of steadily mounting suspense and ruthless action. He captures both the beauty of the high mountain wilderness and the laconic rhythms of the outfitters’ lives. In Tommy Smith he offers a protagonist whose cool competence, home-grown decency, and clarity of purpose in the face of danger suggest a brotherhood with heroes from the likes of Ernest Hemingway and Cormac McCarthy. Bart Paul is the author of TV documentaries, short stories, the biography Double-Edged Sword: The Many Lives of Hemingway’s Friend, the American Matador Sidney Franklin, and Under Tower Peak, his acclaimed debut thriller featuring Tommy Smith. Throughout his school years he spent summers working on cattle ranches and pack outfits in California’s Eastern Sierra. After years in Southern California, he now lives in the ranching country of his novels.

Available products
Book Published 2016-03-01 by Arcade Publishing

Comments

Set in Nevada ranching country, Paul’s stunning sequel to 2013’s Under Tower Peak brings back his tough but reflective hero, Sgt. Tommy Smith, and evokes a sense of place that seems almost timeless. . . . Each plot reveal feels simultaneously shocking and inevitable. High tension and gorgeous Americana make this a standout.

A scenic, suspenseful debut novel turns out to be one of the best of the season. Bart Paul’s debut novel displays some formidable influences—Hemingway, for instance. Shadows of Cormac McCarthy and Jim Harrisonalso flutter across the pages of this swift-moving tale. The nonstop action is well-paced, the plot twists surprising (even shocking), and the occasional humor welcome. A must-read.

Cheatgrass is an invasive grass that sucks moisture from soil and parches its neighbors, which makes it a perfect title for a rangeland crime novel underpinned by ranchers’ struggle with water rights in a brutal economy. Marine Tommy Smith, home from an Afghan tour, is asked to look into the disappearance of a rancher friend who’s been dealing with the money men, making it look like we’re entering a story about the upright older guys battling the greedheads. But author Paul has more in mind—like psycho killers, sexual envy, kidnapping, and torture. Seems that the rancher has a daughter who was once Tommy’s lover. When he went to war, she married another, but now Tommy’s back and a brutal triangle is in place. Reunited, the two set a trap for the killer with themselves as bait. Those willing to ride this bloody range will find a Tarrantino-like thriller that’s hard to put down.— Don Crinklaw

Bart Paul writes about California's northern ranch lands the way James Lee Burke writes about the Louisiana bayou country. Cheatgrass is a fast-paced, character-driven literary thriller that will leave you longing to read more novels featuring Sergeant Tommy Smith. Cheatgrass should be a strong contender for both the Edgar and Golden Spur awards.