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SURGE: Book Two: A Cedar Shoals Thriller
A hurricane can destroy the evidence. Someone is counting on it.
As a major hurricane bears down on North Carolina’s Crystal Coast, county grants officer Renee Haskett approaches police officer Luke Garrison with records that could expose a disaster recovery fraud scheme. A backdated emergency contract. Inflated rates. A storm named in paperwork signed before it had a name.
Luke promises to examine everything after the hurricane.
Then Renee calls 911 from a car filling with water on the Pettiford causeway.
Luke reaches her car during the eye of the storm. Her purse is inside. Her seat belt has been cut.
Renee is gone.
County officials are prepared to call her another storm casualty. Luke isn’t convinced. With Corporal Danny Pate beside him, he follows the evidence through flooded houses, debris yards, and tidal creeks into a hurricane recovery operation where falsified records conceal stolen money—and someone is making sure witnesses stay quiet.
Trucks collect payments for work they never performed. Load counts change after they are submitted. A missing driver’s family receives an offer nobody should be ready to make. And someone inside the county’s emergency response system knows where Luke is looking.
After the corruption exposed in Betrayal, Luke knows how dangerous a badge can become in the wrong hands. This time, even the people helping him have secrets. His sister, Nora, understands the courthouse’s loyalties. His father, Walt, knows the marsh—and the truth behind a deputy’s drowning that was ruled an accident thirty years ago.
As the investigations converge, Luke must confront what his own family has chosen to keep buried.
With a witness dead and a second hurricane approaching, time is running out to find Renee and secure the records that could expose the people behind her disappearance.
They have money, influence, and access to his family. And they know exactly where the next flood will reach.
SURGE is a coastal crime thriller and police procedural featuring missing persons, small-town corruption, disaster profiteering, and family secrets. Set along North Carolina’s hurricane-battered coast, it is the second Cedar Shoals Thriller featuring police officer and Coast Guard reservist Luke Garrison.
THE CEDAR SHOALS THRILLERS
Featuring Luke Garrison
On North Carolina’s Crystal Coast, family names carry weight, favors last for generations, and an official report can conceal more than it reveals.
Beginning with BETRAYAL and continuing in SURGE, Mike Anthony’s coastal suspense series follows Luke Garrison through criminal investigations that cross departmental lines and reach into his own family. A missing record, a routine payment, or a trusted deputy’s word can lead to something powerful people have spent decades protecting.
Luke understands boats, storms, and the people he grew up around. He is still learning what those people will do when he asks the wrong questions.
Written by a retired law enforcement officer and U.S. Coast Guard veteran, the Cedar Shoals Thrillers combine police investigation, coastal danger, and family conflict with one persistent
What does doing the right thing cost when someone you love helped hide the truth?
As a major hurricane bears down on North Carolina’s Crystal Coast, county grants officer Renee Haskett approaches police officer Luke Garrison with records that could expose a disaster recovery fraud scheme. A backdated emergency contract. Inflated rates. A storm named in paperwork signed before it had a name.
Luke promises to examine everything after the hurricane.
Then Renee calls 911 from a car filling with water on the Pettiford causeway.
Luke reaches her car during the eye of the storm. Her purse is inside. Her seat belt has been cut.
Renee is gone.
County officials are prepared to call her another storm casualty. Luke isn’t convinced. With Corporal Danny Pate beside him, he follows the evidence through flooded houses, debris yards, and tidal creeks into a hurricane recovery operation where falsified records conceal stolen money—and someone is making sure witnesses stay quiet.
Trucks collect payments for work they never performed. Load counts change after they are submitted. A missing driver’s family receives an offer nobody should be ready to make. And someone inside the county’s emergency response system knows where Luke is looking.
After the corruption exposed in Betrayal, Luke knows how dangerous a badge can become in the wrong hands. This time, even the people helping him have secrets. His sister, Nora, understands the courthouse’s loyalties. His father, Walt, knows the marsh—and the truth behind a deputy’s drowning that was ruled an accident thirty years ago.
As the investigations converge, Luke must confront what his own family has chosen to keep buried.
With a witness dead and a second hurricane approaching, time is running out to find Renee and secure the records that could expose the people behind her disappearance.
They have money, influence, and access to his family. And they know exactly where the next flood will reach.
SURGE is a coastal crime thriller and police procedural featuring missing persons, small-town corruption, disaster profiteering, and family secrets. Set along North Carolina’s hurricane-battered coast, it is the second Cedar Shoals Thriller featuring police officer and Coast Guard reservist Luke Garrison.
THE CEDAR SHOALS THRILLERS
Featuring Luke Garrison
On North Carolina’s Crystal Coast, family names carry weight, favors last for generations, and an official report can conceal more than it reveals.
Beginning with BETRAYAL and continuing in SURGE, Mike Anthony’s coastal suspense series follows Luke Garrison through criminal investigations that cross departmental lines and reach into his own family. A missing record, a routine payment, or a trusted deputy’s word can lead to something powerful people have spent decades protecting.
Luke understands boats, storms, and the people he grew up around. He is still learning what those people will do when he asks the wrong questions.
Written by a retired law enforcement officer and U.S. Coast Guard veteran, the Cedar Shoals Thrillers combine police investigation, coastal danger, and family conflict with one persistent
What does doing the right thing cost when someone you love helped hide the truth?
381 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 29, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
November 1, 2026
Not a good book!
This was not a good book like the first one this one didn't make sense and it was hard to keep up with! I just hope the next one is better!
This was not a good book like the first one this one didn't make sense and it was hard to keep up with! I just hope the next one is better!
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review