Reasonable Sin: A Carson Brand Action Thriller

by Craig Rainey

Carson Brand wakes up in a stranger’s bed with blood on his hands and no memory of who he is.

Within hours, men are trying to kill him.

Hunted across Texas by assassins, cartel operatives, and federal forces desperate to erase the truth, Brand is forced into a brutal fight for survival armed with nothing but instincts he does not remember learning and flashes of a violent past that refuse to stay buried.

The only people willing to help him are Dehra and her brother Leon — two ordinary civilians who have stumbled into a conspiracy powerful enough to destroy anyone connected to it. But when Leon is murdered by a rogue kill team, Brand and Dehra are thrown into a deadly manhunt stretching far beyond the border wars and criminal violence Brand once understood.

Someone is manipulating governments.
Someone is silencing witnesses.
And someone knows exactly who Carson Brand used to be.

As fragments of memory begin clawing their way back, Brand discovers he may be tied to a shadow network of oligarchs, political operatives, and covert power brokers operating behind the headlines of modern America.

But remembering the truth may be the one thing that gets him killed.

Violent, relentless, and packed with conspiracy, fugitive suspense, and brutal realism, Reasonable Sin pushes the Carson Brand series into darker and more dangerous territory where survival means trusting instincts even when you cannot trust your own mind.

Perfect for fans of Lee Child, Vince Flynn, Brad Thor, and Mark Greaney.

632 pages, Paperback

Published December 30, 2022

About the author

Craig Rainey is an American actor, screenwriter, musician, and author known for creating gritty, cinematic stories rooted in hidden power, frontier violence, conspiracy, and survival. A Texas native with family roots tracing back to the original Stephen F. Austin settlers, Rainey draws heavily from a lifetime of real-world experience that includes military service, ranch work in South Texas, construction, and decades spent studying the darker machinery operating beneath modern American life.

Rainey is the creator of the Carson Brand series, a growing collection of grounded conspiracy thrillers blending cartel violence, political corruption, covert power structures, and lone-man survival against systems larger than himself. His western fiction, including Massacre at Agua Caliente and HooDoo War, explores themes of revenge, family legacy, and the brutal realities of frontier justice in the American West.

As a screenwriter, Rainey has earned multiple awards and official selections, including Best Screenplay (2023, 2024), Best Narrative Period Piece, and Best Breakout Writer for his screenplay adaptation of Massacre at Agua Caliente. In 2024, he won Best Actor for his portrayal of Walker in the western film The Oldest Posse. His work continues to attract industry attention for its cinematic realism, emotionally charged storytelling, and atmospheric portrayal of violence, power, and survival.

Rainey continues to write and develop new novels, screenplays, and film projects from Texas.