Civil War veteran L.D. Cade arrives in 1870s San Francisco, seeking his fortune and a place to end his restless wandering. A job as bodyguard to a flashy real estate speculator seems like just the opportunity he's been looking for. But beneath the glitter and glamour of Gilded Age San Francisco lie festering greed, corruption, and intolerance. It's a dangerous place for an honest man, even one who's as good with a gun as Cade. As he makes his way between the decadent chaos of the notorious Barbary Coast, the luxurious mansions of Russian Hill, and the secretive societies of Chinatown, Cade will face vicious and sadistic enemies, find allies in unexpected places, and encounter a pair of enigmatic women who will change his life forever.

Longtime lovers and con artists Sam and Rachel sign on to help Sam's old mentor, a legendary grifter known as Aunt Sally, pull off a scam that leverages the racist sentiments, gimlet-eyed avarice, and sleazy lust of an odious white supremacist college professor. But the couple has dragged their past behind them, and the Philly mobsters they ripped off not so long ago have set a relentless hunter with a head full of demons on their trail, with a mandate to inflict as much pain as possible before he puts the couple in the ground. As they put the grift together, Sam and Rachel uncover secrets and surprises about Aunt Sally, her enigmatic partner William, and themselves. People Like Us is a story of love and loyalty, of the lies that we call history, and of people who fight to live and love outside the walls of normal society.

He’s back. And he’s always ready to cross the line . . . “[An] emotionally riveting collision of good and evil in a small Southern town.” —Alexandra Sokoloff, Anthony Award–nominated author of the Huntress/FBI series Deputy Sheriff Tim Buckthorn thought he’d seen the last of FBI agent Tony Wolf. But when a young girl is kidnapped, Wolf returns to assist in the search. While Buckthorn, Wolf, and FBI prodigy Leila Dushane race against the clock to piece the clues together and save the girl, they find themselves right in the line of fire. Faced with violent and lawless criminals, Buckthorn has to decide if he is prepared to break all the rules to protect the people and the place he loves . . . against all odds. “A blistering follow-up to Breaking Cover.” —Zoë Sharp, author of the Charlie Fox crime thrillers “Searing...

Ex-cons DeWayne and Leonard thought it was a simple plan: Swipe the payroll from a local construction company and make off with easy cash. Pity they left the owner dead. Bigger pity is that the owner's son is a violent drug-dealer who's crazier than the low-caliber ex-cons he's vowed to nail--along with anyone else who gets in his way. Bounty hunter and war vet Jack Keller is the perfect man for his job. With a brain full of combat nightmares, he's primed for every hunt, keen for the heady scent of gunfire, and high on the release each takedown brings. His new quarry is bail-jumper DeWayne, but even Keller isn't prepared for where this chase is going to take him. Caught in a violent vendetta between two trigger-happy rednecks and a psycho blinded by rage, Keller's soon spiraling into a revenge plot set to explode in the North Carolina backwoods. Add to this murderous mix a local cop with his own agenda and his beautiful partner who's hot for men on the edge, and someone's bound to see hell before the night is over. ### From Publishers Weekly Loaded with testosterone and high-caliber weapons, Rhoades's hard-boiled debut lurches from one bloody gun battle to another in the streets and back alleys of Fayetteville, N.C., as a bounty hunter finds himself drawing highly unwelcome attention. When dim-witted cousins DeWayne and Leonard kill an old Lumbee Indian during their first armed robbery, they get a load of trouble along with the cash. Raymond, one of the victim's sons and a vicious local crime boss, vows to kill everyone involved with his father's death. Caught in between is Jack Keller, a bail bondsman's enforcer; he's after DeWayne for skipping out on his breaking and entering bail. A Gulf War veteran tormented by guilt over the deaths of his squad members in a friendly fire incident, Jack must now deal with the two armed robbers, crazed Raymond and his gang of assorted Colombian gunmen, and sadistic cops who mistakenly think he's the cause of all the mayhem. Resourceful and determined, Jack happily lays out a few bad guys himself, but he's annoyed that everybody wants to kill him, too. He is arrested, beaten up, shot at and pursued, making miraculous escapes each time in the best pulp fiction tradition. Add spectacular car chases, kidnapping, torture, carjacking, a dozen killings and lukewarm sex scenes, and this gritty novel has everything it needs except for suspense, mystery and likable characters. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ### From Booklist *Starred Review* Rhoades slaps this supercharged crime-fiction debut into overdrive in the first paragraph and never lets up through nearly 300 pages of nonstop action. It starts with a simple armed robbery in which two dumb and dumber ex-cons, Leonard and DeWayne, set out to steal the weekly payroll from an elderly Native American who owns a construction company. It quickly goes wrong, however, and the owner is killed. Meanwhile, bounty hunter Jack Keller, a Gulf War vet with a head full of nightmares, is already tracking bail-jumper DeWayne. He'll have to hurry, though, if he hopes to find his quarry before the dead man's son, a drug dealer who is every bit as violent and considerably crazier than the killers he tracks. Throw in a couple of psycho cops with a thing about bounty hunters, and you have the narrative equivalent of a string of homemade bombs timed to explode at random along the Arkansas back roads. Like Stephen Hunter's *Dirty White Boys,* however, this is not simply a car-chase-with-fireworks novel; Rhoades builds his rampaging white boys from the ground up, complete with believable backstory and humanizing shots of *Pulp Fiction-*like humor. Keller is a definite keeper, the kind of flawed noir hero that women want to nurse, cops want to bust, and bad guys want to hurt. There's a formula at work here, of course, but Rhoades never gives us time to feel manipulated. More Keller, please, and soon. *Bill Ott* *Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved*

Someone is killing entire families, forcing fathers to hang their wives and children before taking their own lives. How does the killer do it? And what is the meaning of the small iron horse the killer leaves at every murder scene? FBI agent Melissa Saxon and her handpicked team are racing against time to solve the mystery before more families die. Former anti-terrorist operative Colonel Mark Bishop and the survivors of his command think they know. One of their own, a stone killer who calls himself the Hangman, has come out to play, and he's trying to draw out not only Bishop, but his former comrades—the elite team known as Iron Horse. Only the Horsemen can stop one of their own. But the team is disbanded, the survivors scattered. Bishop himself is tormented by guilt for the things he had to do to keep one of his men from suffering an agonizing death. Their adversary is not only a skilled assassin, but a master at creating fear. Behind the scenes, shadowy and powerful figures pursue their own plans for Bishop and the Hangman. Mark Bishop, Melissa Saxon, and the last of the Iron Horsemen will have to use all their courage and every resource, including an array of high-tech weapons, to stop the Hangman. What they have to do will put everything they ever believed in to the ultimate test and push Bishop to the edge of sanity. "J.D. Rhoades delivers the goods and then some in the wonderfully suspenseful Gallows Pole." -- Gary Phillips, author of The Underbelly "J.D. Rhoades kicks ass!" --J.A. Konrath "Rhoades is a knock-em-dead writer. Always a fan. Get this." --Anthony Neil Smith

Clarissa Cartwright, Enigma's Model of the Year and the planet's most famous beauty, is about to take the stage wearing a fortune in jewels and not much else. In the wings, a motley crew of bumbling crooks is scheming to use a naive inside man to make off with the biggest heist of their careers: five and a half million dollars in precious stones, used to create the world's most gorgeous—and expensive—piece of lingerie.But fashion, like makeup, hides much beneath the surface. And in the world of high crime, even the best laid plans can go hilariously astray. Mix the glitz and glamour of the highest of high fashion with with a team of crooks that would have trouble stealing a sandwich from a deli, and all bets are off.When the robbers find themselves pursued by not only the intimidating ex-cop tasked with protecting the world's most valuable piece of lingerie, but also by Clarissa's insanely jealous and mobbed-up ex-boyfriend, things are bound to get ugly....

Chief Deputy Tim Buckthorn takes center stage in this scorching sequel to the bestselling BREAKING COVER. Buckthorn and his beloved hometown of Pine Lake thought they'd seen the last of FBI agent Tony Wolf. But when evidence of a kidnapping literally falls from the sky, Wolf returns to assist in the search for an abducted young girl. Buckthorn, Wolf, and brilliant FBI prodigy Leila Dushane race against the clock to piece the clues together. When the evil they find follows them home, Pine Lake once again suffers terrible tragedy at the hands of violent and lawless men. Tim Buckthorn, who's lived his life as a sworn officer of the law, will have to cross every line he ever knew on a quest to protect the people and the place he loves. "I loved this emotionally riveting collision of good and evil in a small Southern town. Rhoades always melds action, character and suspense into a seamless and unforgettable ride."-Alexandra Sokoloff, award-winning author of THE HARROWING and the Huntress Series “A blistering follow-up to BREAKING COVER. The prose is fast and smart, the pace frantic and the characters driven, dangerous and yet full of heart. BROKEN SHIELD reaffirms JD Rhoades’ position as the king of redneck noir.” -Zoë Sharp, author of the Charlie Fox crime thriller series "J.D. Rhoades introduced Tim Buckthorn in Breaking Cover. Now, in the searing prose of Broken Shield, Rhoades shows us he has created a character who can stand tall alongside Jack Reacher and Harry Bosch."-Keith Raffel, bestselling author of DOT DEAD, DROP BY DROP, and A FINE AND DANGEROUS SEASON

"J.D. Rhoades writes action as well as anybody in the business, and bail bondsman Jack Keller is a winner." ―C.J. Box, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Joe Pickett series Jack Keller's violent past is very much with him these days, despite his efforts to leave it behind. He's back in rural North Carolina, looking for steady work, and trying to establish a relationship with Francis, the son he never knew. But the boy's heard too much about Keller, particularly from Ben Jones, his half-brother and the son of Marie, the woman Keller loves. Ben's alienated, angry, and headed for trouble, and Keller's living with the guilt of knowing that much of Ben's turmoil stems from that fateful day of blood and madness on a burning mountainside when Keller saved Ben's life and that of his mother. But it came at a terrible price. Keller's intervention on behalf of a bullied refugee girl and her family draws him into a confrontation with people from that family's own dark...

Bounty hunter Jack Keller faces his most dangerous and sadistic enemy yet in this explosive Southern thriller...Jack Keller works in fugitive apprehension, and never feels more alive than when he's hunting down a skip. But when a young girl goes missing, and Keller finds out that the father is an AWOL member of the army's elite Delta Force, he knows immediately that this case will be anything but fun and games.Keller is a Gulf War vet who knows his way around the Army's red tape, but the psychological scars from his experiences in the gulf have only just started to recede enough for him to live and love again. No one is sure how taking on the kidnapping case will affect him, least of all his girlfriend Marie, who's counting on Jack's recovery if they are going to have any future together. But a young girl's life hangs in the balance, and a shadowy group of missing Delta commandos seems to be the key to finding her. For Jack Keller, it's not an easy decision, but it's...

From the Shamus Award-nominated author of the critically-acclaimed Jack Keller southern crime series comes an explosive stand-alone thriller about an undercover federal agent, a chameleon whose specialty is assaulting criminal organizations from within. He was the most talented undercover agent in FBI history, until he dropped completely off the grid, and hasn't been heard from in years. Did he go native, or was he discovered and killed? When Tony Wolf is finally driven out into the open, torn from deep cover during the rescue of two kidnapped children, he becomes the number one target of both the vicious biker gang he double-crossed and a massive Federal manhunt. But Tony’s tired of being the hunted, and as both the gang and a traitorous FBI agent converge on a small southern town, they’re all about to learn a hard lesson: When the Wolf breaks cover, he doesn’t always run away. Sometimes he comes straight at your throat. Critically acclaimed author J.D. Rhoades has written his most compelling thriller to date--a pulse-pounding novel that leaps off the page and will leave readers begging for more.

North Carolina Bounty Hunter is on the trail of a small time crook who's jumped his bail. What he doesn't know is that his quarry has graduated to murder--and not only the cops, but the drug dealing offspring of the man he killed are on the same trail. Their collisions leave a trial of fire and blood across the landscape and lead to an explosive climax.

From the Shamus Award-nominated author of the critically-acclaimed Jack Keller southern crime series comes an explosive stand-alone thriller about an undercover federal agent, a chameleon whose specialty is assaulting criminal organizations from within. He was the most talented undercover agent in FBI history, until he dropped completely off the grid, and hasn't been heard from in years. Did he go native, or was he discovered and killed? When Tony Wolf is finally driven out into the open, torn from deep cover during the rescue of two kidnapped children, he becomes the number one target of both the vicious biker gang he double-crossed and a massive Federal manhunt. But Tony’s tired of being the hunted, and as both the gang and a traitorous FBI agent converge on a small southern town, they’re all about to learn a hard lesson: When the Wolf breaks cover, he doesn’t always run away. Sometimes he comes straight at your throat. Critically acclaimed author J.D. Rhoades has written his most compelling thriller to date--a pulse-pounding novel that leaps off the page and will leave readers begging for more.

Bail enforcement officer Jack Keller is doing a skip trace on a young woman from the right side of the tracks who somehow got involved with the wrong kind of man. But Laurel Marks's history doesn't matter to Jack—she's wanted on a parole violation, and his paycheck depends on tracking her down.Meanwhile, Keller's girlfriend, sheriff's deputy Marie Jones, is called to the scene of a grisly murder—a gas station owner has been shot point-blank in the face, and his teenage stepson, plus the cash from the register, is missing. But something in the back of her mind tells Marie not to jump to conclusions...When a bloody, merciless killing spree starts in a church on the other side of the county, it seems impossible that Keller's skip and Marie's murder/kidnapping case could be related. But the local media is soon involved, and the mess they make of the situation soon reveals just what Keller, Marie, and every other peace officer in the state of North Carolina...

Jack Keller is back in the desert, trying to make a new life for himself and trying to heal from the wounds, both physical and emotional, he suffered from the events of Devils and Dust.But trouble has a way of finding Jack. When he rescues a stranger from being beaten and robbed in a parking lot, the man claims to be carrying a message from the father who abandoned him years ago — a man who claims to have the secret behind the trauma Keller suffered in the first Gulf War.Jack's dying father, however, has his own secret agenda, and the beautiful and ruthless heiress to a powerful political dynasty is willing to go to bloody extremes to keep the past buried. When she turns to an amoral ex-government agent to silence him “by any means necessary", Jack Keller, former hunter of men, finds himself being hunted once again. But this time, he's all alone, with nothing and no one to hold back the dark tide of rage he's been fighting for years.When Jack...

Years ago, the Jakes brothers were found alone, hungry, and freezing, in a trailer where they’d been left by their mother. One found a happy home. The older son never did, but he always dreamed of the day when they would be together again. Thirteen years later, big brother appears, and he’s determined to reunite the family, even if he has to do it by kidnapping his younger brother. The mother they haven’t seen in years is in New Orleans, and she’s in trouble. Her sons are coming to the rescue, even if one of them is doing it at gunpoint.  But things are rapidly spinning out of control in New Orleans. The Jakes boys, the disgraced former sheriff trying to chase them down, and an ambitious Louisiana deputy investigating the mother are in for far more danger than any of them bargained for. As they’re caught between two sides in a vicious drug war, everyone’s fighting to survive, no one knows who to trust, and it’s anyone’s guess who’ll be left standing at the end.  A story of loss and redemption, of love and betrayal, and above all of how far some will go to be part of a family, FORTUNATE SON will keep you up all night and leave you unable to forget it.