Steve Tait is a tough ex Marine with ambition, determination and the driving force to do whatever he can to create a better existence. But he’s lost, struggling to find his way and hasn’t a clue how to turn his life around.
That begins to change during a trip through Montana when an incident on the highway results in a high speed chase that brings Tait into conflict with Jackson, a powerful rancher who virtually owns the local town. Mistakes happen, leading to Tait, his wife and friends becoming trapped at a run-down farm. With only one way to escape Tait is forced to make a desperate bid for freedom down a white water river with dangerous rapids.
Although rich, Jackson has his own problems. Running a big ranch isn’t easy, his whole way of life is under threat and he uses Tait’s unwelcome arrival to determine if his favorite son has the character and ability to lead the family forward.
One day is all it takes for the world they know to be plunged into uncertainty, for lives to be threatened and for the future for each and every one of them to be brought into question.
Targeted Age Group:: 16 and up
What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
This novel is based on a real life incident that occurred during a trip to a resort town in Montana. There was a burning desire to document the event in a fictional account, and through that process the story grew and evolved.
How Did You Come up With Your Characters?
Some of the base line characters were already set, the others developed out of the need to provide a focal point, and a structure in the form of a matrix through which the characters came alive. They are all based on observation of the interaction between individuals, and from an understanding of action/reaction dynamics.
Book Sample
Chapter 1
Montana, Friday Aug. 21
The interstate highway sign providing the name and distance to a town called High River flashed by, advising anyone who might me interested that an exist lay ahead.
Steve Tait wasn’t interested, he’d already passed countless signs bearing the names of towns that littered the vast Montana countryside, all directing him to places he had no intention of visiting.
It was early, the road quiet, the summer sun rising steadily behind the car in a clear blue sky. The snow-capped Rocky Mountains lay ahead, gleaming brightly, filling the horizon from north to south, presenting the illusion of an impenetrable barrier.
Along with his wife, Karen, and their two closest friends, Jeff and Shauna McCrae, they were heading west across the gently undulating high western prairies, each mile propelling the aging Buick closer to the intended destination of Whitefish, the one town in Montana they did want to visit.
The others were asleep, the radio silent, the only sounds the hum of the tires and the wind passing over the surface of the car. The initial feeling of peaceful contentment had long since turned to boredom, and with nothing else to do his focus was divided between the road, his marriage, and the promises made to the woman who was pulling away from him emotionally, and spiritually a little more each and every day.
It wasn’t hard to understand why. Karen was a beautiful woman, college educated and had her pick of wealthy, successful men. Somehow she’d ended up with him, a former US Marine, now a uniformed security guard.
Intelligent, extremely attractive women have choices, and one day soon she’d realize that despite his ambition and determination to create a better existence it wasn’t happening. And if he wasn’t going anywhere, neither was she. Time was running out and Steve had no idea how to turn his life around. All he knew was that he’d better figure it out fast.
A numbness in his leg disturbed his thoughts. It was time to have Jeff take a turn at the wheel.
Steve realigned the rearview mirror that had been turned away to avoid the glare of rising sun, and when he did the boredom of the drive was suddenly and instantly gone.
The deeply shadowed outline of a truck bearing down fast on the read of the car demanded, and had his undivided attention. With headlights blazing it rapidly filled the mirror, coming far too close, to the point where it was almost on top of the car when it finally pulled into the passing lane.
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