Book description
The national parks where Ranger Jo Lockwood works on the edge of the
NSW outback are untamed stretches of dry forest cut through with wild
rivers. She's often alone and she likes it that way - until she
discovers the body of a man, brutally murdered, in a vandalised
campground. Detective Senior Sergeant Nick Matheson knows organised
crime and gang violence from the inside out. He's so good at undercover
work that his colleagues aren't sure which side he's really on. His
posting to the north-western NSW district of Strathnairn is supposed to
be an uneventful return to normal duties but the murder victim in the
campground is only the first of Jo's discoveries. As Jo and Nick uncover
drugs and illegal weapons stashed in the wilderness, the evidence points
towards locals - young, rural men already on the wrong side of the law.
But as far as Nick's concerned, something doesn't add up. When the
bodies start mounting - each brutally punished before death - he becomes
convinced that one person is behind the killings, one person is
manipulating the lads to commit horrific crimes, forming them into his
own private drug-dealing cartel. Jo has seen the man's face, and now
she's his next target. Nick's determined to protect her, but trapped in
rugged country in scorching summer heat, pursued by experienced shooters
who can't afford to fail, they'll need all their skills and knowledge to
survive. Bronwyn Parry's manuscript for AS DARKNESS FALLS, then titled
FALLING INTO DARKNESS, was awarded the 2007 Golden Heart Award by the
Romance Writers of America. She has an honours degree in History and
English and is undertaking a part-time PhD, researching online
communities of romance readers and writers. DEAD HEAT is her third
novel.
