UP FROM HELL: ECHOES OF THE PAST:
CRIMES IN CENTRAL TEXAS BOOK 1
By JOAN MORAN
Sooner or later, everyone stands at a crossroads in their life. Neil Dixon, the young son of a Vegas drug-addicted mother, always wanted to become a cop, though his world was mired in a living hell. How could he escape the squalor of his mother’s world to reach such a lofty career goal as a cop? Standing in the middle of that crossroad was his answer. A mentor, a savior, a father figure — a good, honest cop named Sergeant Finch of the Vegas PD. Finch helped young Neil connect with his mother’s sister in Jarrell, Texas, where he lived with her family. His cousin Jack helped Neil assimilate into the pattern of a Central Texas school. After high school, Neil faced another crossroads.
Neil chose to become a police officer in Jarrell, but he quickly learned of corruption, payoffs, and drug traffickers. He stood at another crossroads – a life of crime or a life as an honest cop. The bottom-of-the-barrel rookie cop soon rose in stature as an honest man and a skilled police officer. Neil became more aware of the drug scene in Jarrell and around Central Texas and the mounting pressure on all levels of law enforcement. Give in and become a pawn to the cartels, or stand on your principles and risk the death of you and your loved ones. Another crossroads. Neil Dixon became the cop he always dreamed of being – but at what price?
The author Joan Moran provides an excellent, diverse cast of characters. Ms. Moran weaves a giant spider web connecting drug traffickers in Mexico that supply distributors in Central Texas and beyond. But who is the spider in the center of the web? She also weaves a panoramic, deadly vista from Las Vegas to Jarrell to Texas border towns where no one is safe from multiple, competing cartels. Officer Neil Dixon builds a trusted team of friends to fight drug traffickers and corruption in law enforcement.
Well done, Joan Moran! But who is the “spider” of this web of drug traffickers? I smell a sequel in the Texas air.
Website: https://www.joanfrancesmoran.com/
Amazon: https://a.co/d/07qpLsHt
Lone Star Literary Life: https://lonestar-lit.com/up-from-hell-by-joan-moran/
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Growing up in Las Vegas, Neil Dixon’s future looked bleak. The son of a drug-addicted mother, he didn’t have a lot of options until a police officer, Sergeant Finch, pulled him from danger and sent him to a new life in Texas.
Now, years later, Neil has become the police officer he always wanted to be—steady, principled, and unafraid to stand alone. But Jarrell, Texas, is not the clean slate he hoped for. Corruption in the department is rampant, and traffickers operate across the border.
When Neil’s mother dies, he returns to Las Vegas and meets the father he’s never known. He gets pulled into a deadly game with his father that stretches from Vegas to the police department in Jarrell, to cartel-scarred border towns. To survive, he must decide what kind of man he truly is – and how far he’s willing to go to stop the people who profit from chaos.
The first book in Joan Moran’s series of crime thrillers, UP FROM HELL, is a gripping, character-driven novel about the weight of the past and the cost of justice.