On July 29, 2025, Deputy US Marshal and “natural born tracker” Arliss Cutter returns for his most personal and thrilling adventure yet in Dead Line, the latest novel from New York Times bestselling author Marc Cameron.
Cutter, who first appeared in Cameron’s 2019 thriller Open Carry, has fast become a favorite among readers who enjoy similar types of heroes from C.J. Box and William Kent Krueger. Most recently, Cutter, who has starred in six novels to date, was seen in Bad River (2024), which follows Arliss from a remote village perched on Arctic permafrost to the Badlands of South Dakota as he searches for answers about the death of his brother.
Now, Arliss Cutter and his partner must fight Alaska’s unforgiving winter storms while also trying to protect a government witness who finds themselves in the crosshairs of a team of assassins.
“Arliss Cutter and Lola Teariki’s hunt for a cop gone bad puts them on a collision course with a completely different mission—saving a protected witness who’s being pursued along a line of remote cabins in the wilderness north of Fairbanks, Alaska,” Marc Cameron tells The Real Book Spy. “The killers think they’ll make short work of their target. Cutter and Lola give chase to stop them.
“Alaska’s weather has other plans for the pair. A polar vortex drops temperatures to seventy degrees below zero, where even a short jog can be deadly, and air support is out of the question. It’s life or death stakes, a hot pursuit in the frigid wilderness. In the meantime, while Cutter looks for answers as to why his estranged mother suddenly appeared at Mim’s front door after forty years— he’s hit with a new revelation that will change his life forever . . .”
Check out the official cover art and plot details below.
Release Date: July 29, 2025
Kensington
In fever-pitch, heart-stopping race against time, Deputy U.S. Marshal Arliss Cutter and his partner brave Alaska’s unforgiving, brutal wilderness of snow and ice to save a government witness from cold-blooded assassins in New York Times bestselling author and former U.S. Marshal Marc Cameron’s breathless, taut new adventure thriller for fans of Paul Doiron, CJ Box, and William Kent Krueger.
Deputy U.S. Marshal Arliss Cutter and his partner brave the unforgiving, brutal Alaskan wilderness of snow and ice to save a government witness from cold-blooded assassins . . .
In the White Mountain Wilderness of Interior Alaska, twenty-four-year-old protected witness Sam Lujan is lonely for his old life. So much so, the young Apache not only breaks the cardinal rule of the Witness Protection Program—by revealing his whereabouts to his mother, he invites her to join him to see the Northern Lights. It’s her lifelong dream. No worries. It’ll be safe.
When Deputy U.S. Marshals Arliss Cutter and Lola Teariki discover Sam has gone missing, they’re asked to make a quick trip into the remote wild to make sure the witness is indeed protected. But there’s no such thing as a quick trip. Not when they’re plunging headlong into the frozen unknown at fifty-eight degrees below zero. And not when they aren’t the only ones searching. Valeria Kot, the vengeful daughter of the criminal Sam testified against, has been waiting and watching for years for just the opportunity to strike back. She’s found it—and has dispatched a sadistic hit squad to make sure Sam pays in the most savage way possible.
Once Arliss and Lola reach the trailhead it doesn’t take long for them to realize they’re dealing with more than a witness who’s broken protocol. Tracks in the snow and tell-tale signs signal an armed team—one that’s already a step ahead of them. For Arliss and Lola, and a desperate mother and son on the run, the death-defying, frigid temperatures are the least of their worries.
Marc Cameron is a former U.S. Marshal and the New York Times and USA Today bestselling, award-winning author of the Arliss Cutter novels, the Jericho Quinn series, and the Tom Clancy Jack Ryan Sr. books, starting with Power and Empire. A Texas native who now lives in Alaska, his law enforcement career spanned over three decades, beginning as a uniformed police officer, mounted (horse patrol) officer, and detective before accepting a position with the United States Marshals Service. In that role he served as a Deputy, Fugitive Task Force Commander, Supervisory Deputy, Senior Inspector, and Chief. His assignments have taken him from rural Alaska to Manhattan, from Canada to Mexico and points in between. A second-degree black belt in jujitsu, he often teaches defensive tactics to other law enforcement agencies and civilian groups. Cameron presently lives in Alaska with his wife and his BMW motorcycle. Visit him online at MarcCameronBooks.com.
Readers excited for the next Arliss Cutter adventure can now pre-order Cameron’s forthcoming new novel, Dead Line, wherever books are sold.
Praised as “One of the hardest working, most thoughtful, and fairest reviewers out there” by New York Times bestselling author Lisa Scottoline, Ryan Steck has “quickly established himself as the authority on mysteries and thrillers” (Author A.J. Tata). Steck also works full-time as a freelance editor in addition to running TRBS. He is the author of FIELDS OF FIRE, which #1 New York Times bestselling author Jack Carr says “will leave you speechless and begging for more,” LETHAL RANGE, OUT FOR BLOOD, and TED BELL’S MONARCH. For more information, follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and BookBub. To interact with other readers and talk about your favorite books and authors, join The Real Book Spy’s Discord server.