Next Summer, Sherrif Chris Cherry is back in This Side of Night, the all-new novel from author J. Todd Scott.
Back in March of this year, I interviewed Scott during the release of his second book, and he told me them that, “the third Chris Cherry (Big Bend) book is already done. It’s titled This Side of Night and is due out next year. I’m stepping away from Chris for the book after that, a stand-alone crime novel tentatively titled Thirteen Days (I can’t wait to introduce people to Will Lucas and Naomi Wade). That one’s done as well, and just sitting with my editor.”
Now, more than eight months after he teased the third book in his series — following The Far Empty (2017) and High White Sun (2018) — we finally have the official plot details and a first look at the cover art. Check it out below!
The vicious Mexican cartel war boils over into the Big Bend in the explosive new novel from the author of The Far Empty and High White Sun.
In the Mexican borderlands, a busload of student protestors is gunned down in broad daylight, a violent act blamed on the Nemesio cartel. But its aging leader, Fox Uno, sees the attack for what it is: another salvo in the long-running battle for control of Nemesio itself; perhaps by a rival cartel, or maybe someone closer to home…
Across the Rio Grande, Sheriff Chris Cherry and his deputies America Reynosa and Danny Ford find themselves caught in Fox Uno’s escalating war with the recent discovery of five dead men at the river’s edge. But when El Paso DEA agent Joe Garrison’s own Nemesio investigation leads him into the heart of the Big Bend, he’s not ready to accept the cartel leader’s retreat or defeat. Not only does he suspect a high-profile drug task force in a neighboring county is corrupt, he can’t shake lingering doubts about the loyalty and motives of the young deputy, Ame Reynosa. And he won’t let Sheriff Cherry ignore them either.
In this pitiless land it’s kill or be killed, where everyone will make one final bloody stand to decide the fate of Nemesio, the law in the Big Bend, and most of all, the future of America Reynosa.
J. Todd Scott has been a federal agent with the DEA for more than twenty years, working cases investigating international maritime smuggling and domestic meth labs, and led a multi-agency strike force dedicated to attacking Mexican cartel smuggling routes. He has a law degree from George Mason University and is a father of three. A Kentucky native, he now resides in the southwest, which provided the backdrop for his novels of the Big Bend.
This Side of Night is slated to hit stores on July 16, 2019, and is currently available for pre-order wherever books are sold.
Praised as “one of today’s finest book reviewers” by New York Times bestselling author Gayle Lynds, Ryan Steck (“The Godfather of the thriller genre” — Ben Coes) has “quickly established himself as the authority on mysteries and thrillers” (Author A.J. Tata). He currently lives in Southwest Michigan with his wife and their six children.