Ron Ketchum thought he’d left the darkest parts of police work behind when he traded Los Angeles for the quiet Sierra Nevada resort town of Goldstrike. He was wrong.
One bright mountain morning, Ron stumbles onto a crime unlike anything he’s ever seen: the body of an African American man nailed to a tree.
The victim is a beloved minister—the son of nationally famous televangelist Jimmy Thunder. Ron, meanwhile, has testified in court that he’s a recovering bigot, a fact that only sharpens the scrutiny surrounding the case.
Goldstrike’s untouchable mayor-for-life and movie legend, Clay Steadman, demands a swift arrest. The pressure intensifies when the victim’s grandmother arrives and publicly declares that God will curse the town until the killer is found.
Then something else begins stalking Goldstrike.
A rogue mountain lion starts attacking on the outskirts of town. Soon it moves closer—into backyards, over fences, and finally turning on one of the hunters sent to kill it.
Caught between a brutal murder investigation, a deadly predator, and the fight to protect his own integrity, Ron Ketchum begins to wonder if life as a cop in L.A. wasn’t easier after all.
