Cole Clayfield is called a throwback by those who know him. He's a Kentucky mountain man lost in modern times, more comfortable alone in his isolated cabin, hunting with his dogs, or teaching his 10-year-old granddaughter Shelby how to understand nature and respect the earth. Since the death of his beloved wife, though, Clayfield hasn't felt much of anything, except sorry for himself.
When Shelby is suddenly kidnapped at gunpoint by a sociopath named Darnell, all of Clayfield's tracking instincts are shocked into action. But Shelby's other grandfather,a rich lawyer and political wheeler-dealer named Stockton, has his own ideas. Both men are desperate to get their granddaughter back alive, but each has very different ways of going about it.
While Stockton uses his money and hidden influence to trace Darnell's mad, murderous scramble across three states with Shelby and Darnell's girlfriend Hayley, Clayfield scales the rough mountain trail and walks the mean city streets himself, trying to trap Darnell where he least expects it. Only Clayfield is a little older than he used to be, and Darnell is as dangerous and as sharp as they come. He never hesitates to shoot first, and he doesn't care who gets in the way as long as he gets out.
As the pressure surrounding Darnell mounts and the search for the trio grows more violent and intense, Clayfield inches closer and closer to the madman who is holding his granddaughter - praying that it's not too late to save her, and that Darnell pays with his life's blood for what he's done.
Why I enjoy writing books about AppalachiaI grew up in a small town in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky, in the heart of what people call "Appalachia."
As a boy it was one of my greatest pleasures to listen to older people tell stories about the people and days gone by in the mountains. My mother was a wonderful teller of tales about my ancestors and other colorful individuals, their hopes, dreams, escapades, and often violent conflicts.
I have always loved books and loved to read (especially fiction), and as I grew older, I also read a lot of history of the Appalachian Mountains and the people who settled there. As a teenager, I imagined how satisfying it would be to write stories about the area where I was born and where my ancestors have lived for two hundred years.
It was only about a dozen years ago, however, that I finally found (or took) the time to seriously try to write a novel. After a lot of words that were thrown away, I finally produced my first published novel, JORDON'S WAGER. It was followed two years later by a sequel, JORDON'S SHOWDOWN. Both are set in the mountains during the Prohibition era of the Thirties.
My third published novel was THROWBACK. While it is set in the present, the place is the same as the others--the mountains of Eastern Kentucky.
The thing that has given me the most satisfaction about my fiction is that people from the area who read it comment so favorably about its authenticity. Outside reviewers generally say the same, but it is the mountain people themselves whose feelings about my books please me most. Above all, I want to write interesting stories that portray the mountains and the people who live there in a true and authentic way, good, bad and in between.
I am very proud of my mountain heritage, and it is a great source of satisfaction for me to be able to write novels that publishers want to publish and people want to buy and read, telling stories I want to tell in the way I want to tell them.
What more could an author ask?
