March 2016
The Scourge
by Keen Butterworth
Jake Battle is minding his own business, just fishing, when he follows the squawking of ravens and magpies to find the body of a beautiful woman, wife of a local ranch owner who is also one of the richest men in the country.When the fatal slug is dug out of her, everyone in Clark City, Montana, knows there's only one gun around that could have fired it, the rifle of Jake's friend, Carlton Heavy-Eagle."Don't get mixed up in this mess," Jake's girlfriend, Gwen, tells him. "You can't tell what's going on." But Jake is too mixed up in it already. The path he follows to clear his friend leads to tales of gang violence, wanton sex, cocaine smuggling, and the mysterious Scourge -- a man monstrous in size and ugliness.In his debut novel, author Keen Butterworth has painted a vivid portrait of both man and nature as Jake -- haunted by his past in Vietnam, soothed by the love he shares with Gwen -- pursues a dangerous manhunt amid the rugged beauty of the northern Rockies.
