Brendan Fishback in my new suspense thriller Lake Charles is a nineteen-year-old pressman living in Umpire, Tennessee. The big landmark there is the Great Smoky Mountains. If you've ever been there, then you'll know how breathtaking the views from the outlooks are.

All is not well in Brendan's neck of the woods. He's on the hook for a murder he didn't commit. His twin sister Edna soon disappears while they're fishing and boating on Lake Charles. Cobb, Brendan's best pal, suggests they camp over night at Lake Charles. Daybreak will find them searching high and low in the boonies for Edna.

Brendan, just a regular guy like you and me, has to pick up his game and deal with a lot of bad stuff hitting him from all sides. Of course he has to call on his friends for a little help.

Enter Jeremiah Wheeler, Cobb's father who is an ex-CIA and Army vet. Reviewers have said Jeremiah kicks some major ass and gives no quarter throughout the second half of Lake Charles. He gets Brendan's back when they run into a drug cartel operating in the area.

I like stories where a friend lends a helping hand to a character up to his eyeballs in trouble. Brendan is just that way. And my setting of the vivid Great Smoky Mountains is icing on the cake.

Ed Lynskey
@edlynskey

Author of Lake Charles