This novel, based on true events, gives the reader a ringside seat to a cross-country rampage that snuffed out multiple lives in 1950 and ’51. A U.S. Army lieutenant reports his twin brother missing, after he fails to show up for a highly anticipated family visit, and a bullet-riddled car’s discovery in Oklahoma leads police to fear for Carl Mosser, his wife and three children. It quickly prompts the largest nationwide manhunt since the 1930s, when John Dillinger was on the run. A handgun receipt implicates Billy Cook, a parolee with an extensive record and utter contempt for authority (“I'm used to being thrown anywhere,” he taunted his jailers). Law enforcement officials frantically scour the West, with Cook always a step ahead, killing a salesman in Palo Verde, California, and taking a deputy sheriff hostage in Blythe. After he crosses the Mexican border, it’s up to local police to capture him and keep his hostages safe. Later, a prolonged debate about Cook’s mental state plays...
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