Down the Dead Road

by David J. Nix

Sixteen-year-old “Cowboy” knows he will die soon – just not when or how. Death is stalking him, making repeated attempts on his life. The boy is an easy target, having lived on the streets nearly all his life with no memory of his real name or origin, cared for by Emma, the homeless woman who found him as an abandoned toddler. Now a brutal street gang wants to kill him, unwittingly joining forces with Death. Fortunately, Cowboy has a powerful ally – a mysterious figure Emma calls The Highwayman – who appears intent on thwarting Death’s plan. Cowboy’s dark fate appears to change with his rescue of a wealthy teen girl and the unexpected romance that blossoms between them. This frustratingly wonderful relationship inspires Cowboy to seek the truth of his past, despite the ongoing tug-of-war between Death and The Highwayman. Then suddenly, in the midst of the mayhem, the door to Cowboy’s past cracks open - but the unbelievable truth may not be enough to save him!

210 pages, Paperback

First published May 24, 2011

About the author

Engineer by day and writer by night, David broke into traditional publishing in 2020 writing historical romance for Entangled Publishing under the pseudonym Sawyer North. In a stroke of luck, a photo of him wearing a cowboy hat on a Regency romance writers’ social media page landed him the opportunity to write a three-volume progressive western series for Sourcebooks in 2022. His love of researching history and bringing it to life – especially the stories of forgotten women – has led him lately toward writing historical fiction. He has a podcast in the works, Plot Twisted History, that tells true historical stories from a writer’s viewpoint – in service of the surprises and plot twists along the way.

David has called Austin home since 1998 with his wife and three children, where he fully embraces the city motto of “keep Austin weird.” He is a member of Regency Fiction Writers and Romance Writers of Central Texas, female centered organizations that have taken him under their wing and shared their collective wisdom.

Reviews

[David Nix · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first published novel. It is uneven in parts, and the main character is sometimes a little too self aware. However, the twists and turns are neck-breaking. I hope you give it a try!

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a very mystryious book and allot of twists to it. I had to re-read the whole book over, though. Because once I figured out (kind of) what all went down I had to read it again to actually understand it. But deffinetly a good book.

[Dane Coriell · Rating 5 out of 5]

There were a lot of twists and turns, and one jaw-dropper that made me say "No way!" I loved it.