Will Brite is a Slash Five cowboy working in the Middle Concho region of Texas in the winter of 1884 when a blizzard descends upon him—the likes of which he has never seen. Trapped under his horse and entangled in a barbed wire fence, Will finds an unexpected (and unwelcome) savior in the form of Zeke Boles, a former slave on the run from a bloody, guilt-filled past.
In Zeke’s dark features Will sees a reflection of the haunting memories he has been trying to escape for so long, but he reluctantly offers him shelter for the night at the Slash Five camp. Little does he know that their lives will be inexorably linked in the spring of ’85 through what will be one of the most brutal roundups of the nineteenth century.
Follow Will, Zeke, and the rest of the Slash Fives as they ride through West Texas in search of stray cattle in an unforgettable tale of love, redemption, and true grit.
***2015 SPUR AWARD FOR WESTERN TRADITIONAL NOVEL, WESTERN WRITERS OF AMERICA
***2015 PEACEMAKER AWARD FOR BEST WESTERN NOVEL, WESTERN FICTIONEERS
***2014 ELMER KELTON AWARD, ACADEMY OF WESTERN ARTISTS
***2015 KELTON AWARD FOR FICTION, WEST TEXAS HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
***2015 FINALIST,WILL ROGERS MEDALLION AWARDS