"Alaska is almost a character all on its own: beautiful, unpredictable, violent, and unforgiving. Broken Angels is a compelling debut by a talented new writer." -Elaine Ford, winner of the Michigan Literary Award.
"Heath's debut novel is gripping from the get-go." -Kirkus Reviews
"This book was amazing, just as Burke brings New Orleans to life Heath puts Alaska into your soul." -Judy Smrdel
"Heath has tapped his intimate knowledge of Alaska, its people, its coastal communities and its interior uniqueness and crafted a character-rich, page-turning, murder mystery." -An Alaskan
She stares at her mother's clumsy lettering on the envelope. Nine years. Nine years since she stepped over her mother's drunken body and into a cold Alaska night running south, leaving her mother forever. How did she find me? She hesitates, knowing the letter inside will drag her home; back into the bleakness of a life with no exit. Kris Gabriel, Alaska Native, and fierce like a wolverine, returns to Alaska--to find her mother murdered. Guilty she abandoned her in life, Kris only knows to fight. Relentlessly, she tracks a trail of pain, of lost love, of lives ripped apart by the frozen north's unyielding laws, never suspecting that she has far more at stake than just finding her mother's killer.
Broken Angels is a fast-paced Alaskan noir filled with richly drawn characters struggling to survive in a hostile country where there are no second chances.
EXCERPT
“No!” Pulling into himself. “No,
that’s not—” Shouting, now. “That’s not the way it was. I tried—” He surged up,
a black shape against the night, coming at her. She swung the pistol with both
hands, the flashlight tumbled into the snow. He slapped the gun aside. It
exploded, the gun jumping in her hand. She staggered, dazed, the roar striking
like a sledge against her ears.
Then she heard Lambale screaming.
The scream rushed at her out of the darkness. “No! Kris!” Frantic, she spun,
confused, lost in the night. She slipped, fell.
She lifted the gun.
“You don’t under—” He was on top of
her.
From the snow, she pointed up,
pulled the trigger. Ears slammed. Blinded by the muzzle flash. She rolled,
jumped to her feet.
He was a black shape in the snow,
crawling.
The night warped around her, a voice
screeched in her skull, like metal tearing. The gun lifted, tracked, aimed and
the night exploded again and again and again.
About the author:
In his teens, Russell Heath hitchhiked to Alaska and lived in a cabin on the banks of the Tanana River; in his twenties, he lived in Italy and then traveled overland across the Sahara, through the jungles and over the savannas of Africa and into southern Asia; in his thirties, he sailed alone around the world in a 25 foot wooden boat; in his forties, he wrote novels; and in his fifties he bicycled the spine of the Rockies from Alaska to Mexico.
He's worked on the Alaska Pipeline, as an environmental lobbyist in the Alaska Legislature, and run a storied environmental organization fighting to protect Alaska's coastal rainforests. Several years ago, he moved to New York City to dig deep into leadership development and coaching. He now coaches business and non-profit leaders intent on making big things happen in the world.
Author's Giveaway
4 comments:
This sounds intriguing and I love the cover.
I like the book cover. This sounds like a mysterious adventure.
The cover is very pretty. Definitely made me want to find out more.
Great cover and excerpt.
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