MYSTERY/THRILLER

Draw a Hard Line: An E.J. Kane Mystery Michael E. Jimerson | Elwood Jimerson Farms, LLC 308p, e-book, $3.99, ISBN 979-8-218-37773-1

Set in a Texas where “the bland, khaki shades of drought punished the landscape,” Jimerson’s second cowboy-inflected detective thriller finds Ranger-turned-independentsleuth E.J. Kane facing off with a terrifying former adversary seeking an exit from prison: white supremacist gang leader and murderer, G..H. Burton, who is attempting to gin up evidence of his innocence—and punish those who convicted him. Kane must work with his ex wife, the hard nosed lawyer Rebecca Johnson, and law enforcement officials skeptical of their former colleague, to prove Burton is guilty not only of the crimes with which he was charged but others ongoing. Burton seems to have inside help, possibly including a DA and a powerful politico.

Jimerson’s protagonist is a multi-faceted, decorated hero with a complicated past and his own personal and professional demons as he

works to outsmart a cunning enemy. Dealing with the trauma of his son’s death and his daughter’s drug addiction, Kane is movingly divided between his professional obligations and the impossible hope of righting the wrongs in his personal life. Jimerson seamlessly incorporates gritty violence, bursts of action, and an unsettling feeling of not being sure who to trust with compelling glimpses of Kane’s home life and personal relationships. “Grown men building their lives on the simplistic moral codes of Don Quixote-style heroes,” Kane muses, at one point, contemplating the popularity of Walker, Texas Hero. Jimerson, in contrast, digs deeper into the hard choices and human costs of heroism without slowing the pace or skimping on explosive twists.

The prose is crisp, sometimes biting, with sharp dialogue, strong local color, and a vivid feel for scrub, mud, trucks, and cottonmouths. But it’s Kane’s wit, intellect, and no-nonsense attitude that make him a cowboy detective readers will root for until the satisfying ending, that, for all the bullets and corruption, pulses with a hopeful spirit.

Cover: A | Design & typography: A | Illustrations: – Editing: A | Marketing copy: A