TEXAS SIZE AND STYLE THRILLER: TAYLOR MOORE'S COLD TRAIL

Taylor Moore created a unique series featuring his hero, Garrett Kohl, the former soldier and DEA agent, struggling to finding a quieter life running his family's Texas ranch that often gets violently interrupted. Moore fuses the outdoor and military thriller with the atmosphere and characters of a Texas regional novel. He put all of this to use in last fall's The Cold Trail.

Moore starts the story by giving Garrett a rare moment of peace. He is working with his adopted on, Asadi, a survivor of war torn Afghanistan, and his irascible father. He was able to save the ranch by begrudgingly partnered with an old rival with an energy business. That endeavor becomes endangered when a power plant connected to it goes up in an explosion due to sabotage. Kohl looks into it and evidence points to an environmental group with many war vets, The Order. Garret served with one of the men Kia, who claims innocence and the two team up to discover what is really going down. Whoever is behind it is also putting Asadi and his ex-girlfriend in danger. If that's not enough Kohle's CIA contact, Kim Mann, executes a touchy extraction assignment in Afghanistan.

Moore deftly moves between these storylines. He understands character is key, leaning on the frayed relationships of between the the people each plot line throws together. He ramps up the pace with each chapter to the point of rivaling an action movie, going to the next storyline just when you ant to.

Cold Train continues Taylor Moore's growing reputation as a master thriller writer. He puts the reader in the action, caring about the characters their in it with. He uses the Texas setting not only for the distinctive landscape but as a home Garrett and those he loves fights for. He takes the genre and gives it a voice all his own.

-review by Scott Montgomery