Open Carry

This terrific series launch from bestseller Cameron (the Jericho Quinn thrillers) introduces Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal Arliss Cutter, a skilled tracker. Now a part of the Fugitive Task Force, Cutter is assigned to Alaska, where one of his first assignments takes him and his partner, Deputy Lola Fontaine, to the town of Craig on Prince of Wales Island to bring in Hayden Starne on sexual assault and kidnapping charges. When teenager Millie Burkett goes missing, the search for Starne gains added urgency. Meanwhile, Craig is turned upside down by a crew filming FISHWIVES!, a reality show about local fishermen. The stakes rise when a sadistic Mexican cartel boss kidnaps the show’s producer and her cameraman boyfriend. Cutter and Fontaine are soon awash in possible perpetrators and dead bodies. Cameron, who has nearly three decades in law enforcement and a stint as a U.S. marshal, keeps all these plot points delicately balanced and at the same time creates sympathetic heroes, depraved villains, and nail-biting action. Readers will eagerly await his next. [em]Agent: Robin Rue, Writers House. (Mar.) [/em]