A blistering crime novel of the opioid epidemic—and its cops, villains, and victims—written by a twenty-five-year veteran of the DEA.Angel, Kentucky: Just another one of America's forgotten places, where opportunities vanished long ago, and the opioid crisis has reached a fever pitch. When this small town is rocked by the vicious killing of an entire infamous local crime family, the bloody aftermath brings together three people already struggling with Angel's drug epidemic: Trey, a young medic-in-training with secrets to hide; Special Agent Casey Alexander, a DEA agent who won't let the local law or small-town way of doing things stand in her way; and Paul Mayfield, a former police chief who's had to watch his own young wife succumb to addiction. Over the course of twenty-four hours, loyalties are tested, the corrupt are exposed, and the horrible truth of the largest drug operation in the region is revealed. And though Angel will never be the same again,...

From J. Todd Scott comes a chillingly engrossing thriller about a cult survivor who must confront the horrors of her past to ensure the safety of the future. Ten years after a fiery raid kills her family, former cult member Sybilla “Billie” Laure has a completely new identity. She’s settled in rural Colorado with her daughter, hoping for a quieter life. But the world has other plans. With wildfires raging and birds dropping from the sky, Billie wonders if her cult leader father’s apocalyptic predictions are finally coming true. When an intruder murders her husband and kidnaps her daughter, Billie has no choice but to confront the secrets of her past. But Billie’s journey has other perils, too―namely, a police chief hot on her trail, determined to expose the dangers of the defunct doomsday cult. To save her daughter, Billie will have to go back to where it all began―to the ruined compound in New Mexico where the real threat is the truth. Review Praise for The Flock “In this riveting postapocalyptic thriller from Scott (Lost River), the world has been rocked by multiple catastrophes, including a terrible new disease that’s ‘a silent killer of children across the globe that now affects adults.’ Admirers of Justin Cronin will want to check this one out.” —Publishers Weekly “It’s all here: doomsday cults, innocents and grifters, unexplainable phenomena. Heartache and regret. A chance at redemption. What sets The Flock above your average thriller is the absolute ring of authenticity from this twenty-plus-year career DEA agent. You got the real deal right here.” —Alma Katsu, author of The Fervor and The Hunger “Scott lays out his short, propulsive chapters like a trail of breadcrumbs you can’t help but follow. This one will keep you up late turning the pages.” —Brian Freeman, bestselling author of Thief River Falls “We live in a world of bent truths, tribal divisions, and conspiring realities—and you’ll find a dark, mesmerizing reflection of this in J. Todd Scott’s latest thriller, The Flock. Scott writes with a terse poetry and builds a relentlessly paced plot, but it’s the superbly drawn characters who will wreck you in the best possible way.” —Benjamin Percy, author of The Unfamiliar Garden Praise for J. Todd Scott “Mr. Scott, as it happens, has been a federal agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration for more than twenty years, which surely contributes to the authenticity of this convincing saga.” —Wall Street Journal “Scott’s twenty-year career as a DEA agent infuses his work with realism, and his writing chops will make readers wonder why he waited so long to launch his literary career.” —Associated Press “The author exploits his decades of experience as a federal agent to create a powerful, realistic picture of crime.” —Kirkus Reviews “Scott writes beautifully, dreaming up intriguing action scenes, which those who are focused only on thrills will wish kept going and going. But patient readers will recognize and appreciate Scott’s endgame: showing us a world where thieves, murderers, and sadists are everyday folk.” —Booklist “J. Todd Scott’s series reads like equal parts Don Winslow and Ace Atkins. Having spent twenty years working with the DEA, Scott knows his stuff, adding instant credibility to his stories, which are well written and hopelessly addictive.” —New York Journal of Books “As addictive as the best crime show.” —Newsweek “The poetic and bloody ground of [the west] has given birth to a powerful new voice in contemporary western crime fiction.” —Craig Johnson, New York Times bestselling author of the Walt Longmire series “J. Todd Scott is the real deal.” —Michael McGarrity, New York Times bestselling author About the Author J. Todd Scott was born in rural Kentucky and attended college and law school in Virginia, where he set aside an early ambition to write to pursue a career as a federal agent. His assignments have taken him all over the United States and the world, but a gun and a badge never replaced his passion for stories and writing. His previous books include The Far Empty, High White Sun, and This Side of Night in the Chris Cherry / Big Bend Series, as well as the Appalachian crime novel Lost River. For more information, find Todd at www.jtoddscott.com.

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...

Even though the corrupt Sheriff Ross is dead and gone, outlaws still walk free, peace comes at a price, and redemption remains hard to find in this fiery and violent novel from the author of The Far Empty.In the wake of Sheriff Stanford Ross's death, former deputy Chris Cherry—now Sheriff Cherry—is the new "law" in Big Bend County, yet he still struggles to escape the shadow of that infamous lawman. As Chris tries to remake and modernize his corrupt department, bringing in new deputies, including young America Reynosa and Ben Harper—a hard-edged veteran homicide detective now lured out of retirement—he finds himself constantly staring down a town unwilling to change, friends and enemies unable to let go of the past, and the harsh limits of his badge.But it's only when a local Rio Grande guide is brutally and inexplicably murdered, and America and Ben's ongoing investigation is swept aside by a secretive federal agent, that the novice...