Overview

With Mirage, Burnett delivers his most ambitious and explosive work yet-a border-crime thriller driven by trauma, vengeance, corruption, and the desperate longing for justice in a world built on exploitation. Mirage is a gritty crime thriller set in South Texas, where the desert sun burns the truth into the earth and the shadows hide what official reports never dare to tell. The story plunges readers into the seedy and violent underworld of human smuggling, cartel influence, corrupt government officials, and the hidden systems that allow exploitation to thrive across the U.S.-Mexico border. Burnett's world is populated by people who aren't heroes-they're survivors. Damaged. Driven. Dangerous. The heart of the story beats within two unforgettable characters whose unlikely partnership creates a narrative as explosive as it is emotionally deep. Carrie James has spent her life outrunning demons she never asked for. Traumatized by years of psychological and physical abuse-pain that she blames on her philandering father-Carrie carries scars far deeper than the ones visible to the world. Driven by rage, shaped by trauma, and fueled by the burning need for vengeance, she becomes Bee County's first female deputy sheriff. But Carrie doesn't enter law enforcement for justice in the traditional sense. She enters it to expose the truth. To make wrong people hurt. To find answers about the death of her closest childhood friend, Carlos-a tragedy tied to a cross-border smuggling operation that reeks of deception and betrayal. What Carrie uncovers is far worse! Kevin Cash-often known by his street name DJ Cash-is a hustler with ambition, a man who has always lived one step to the left of the law. When he infiltrates a produce company with cartel ties, he's seeking money, access, and the illicit adrenaline rush that comes with playing both sides. But Cash isn't one-dimensional; he's funny, flawed, reckless, charming, and desperate for validation. His world becomes further entangled when he falls for a fellow probation officer-and gets ensnared by the dangerously unstable daughter of a trafficking-linked business owner. His choices blur the line between survival and self-destruction, and Burnett paints his spiral with nuance, humor, and tragedy. Carrie and Cash shouldn't work together. They don't trust each other. They don't even like each other. Their motivations clash-one fueled by revenge, one by profit. Yet in the world Burnett builds, these two broken souls find themselves bound by the same enemy, the same corruption, and the same suffocating system. Both must go undercover. Both must bend-or break-the law. Both must decide what justice really means when the institutions designed to uphold it are rotting from the inside. Their missions diverge. Their fates collide. Their choices ignite a storm. Mirage is a great choice for fans of Don Winslow, Stieg Larson, Tana French, Cormac McCarthy, and Gillian Flynn

Full Product Details

9781952224454

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Reviews

""Burnett cracks open the seedy underworld of smuggling, crime, and policework along the US-Mexico border"" -Publisher's Weekly The plot shifts between several characters in and around Bee County, Texas-from drug cartel mules to parole officers to law enforcement officials-but at its heart, the story is about the mismatched Carrie James and Kevin Cash, aka DJ Cash, who team up to figure out who's behind a cross-border human smuggling operation. Their motivations often diverge: for Carrie, it's about exacting revenge for the death of a loved one, while Cash is in it for the money. But despite those differences, readers will be surprised at this unlikely duo's efficiency in rooting out the bad guys and delivering an unconventional form of justice. Carrie and Cash split up to achieve their goal, with Carrie taking a job as a deputy sheriff for local law enforcement while Cash starts working as a probation officer under the county judge. Readers who assume the two will evolve into something of a romantic item will be disappointed. Carrie is too deeply traumatized by her past to dabble in romance; in fact, her trauma spurs a dark strain in her personality which erupts in brutal bouts of bloodshed. Cash is somewhat more conventional-and ends up falling for a fellow probation officer-but things quickly get out of hand. People die, corruption is exposed, and Carrie soon finds out that her own father may be involved in the operation they're trying to bust. The plot hurtles from one twist to another, speckled with graphic violence and sex, and the myriad characters, connections, and double agents in the enterprise culminate in a confusing tangle of allegiances and betrayals. But that gives the book its messy, realistic character, and it's clear that Burnett has a deep understanding of the greed, trauma, and brutality that drive the human condition. Takeaway: Gritty, violent takedown of a cross-border smuggling operation. >-BookLife There are some profound themes, including illegal immigration, sex trafficking, violence against women and child neglect. To that end, some comparables might be The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, Birthdays for the Dead by Stuart MacBride, Kill the Father by Sandrone Dazieri, and titles by Tana French, James Patterson, Don Winslow and perhaps Gillian Flynn for her formidable characterization of female psychopaths. >-Blacklist

Author Information

As an award-winning poet, songwriter, and novelist, Tony Burnett has had work published in over 40 international literary magazines. He served as board president of the Writer's League of Texas beginning in 2011. He is now the managing editor and CEO of Kallisto Gaia Press. His publications include a short story collection, Southern Gentleman, a book of poetry titled The Reckless Hope of Scoundrels, and his most recent novel, Watermelon Tattoo, winner of the Water Tower Press Novel Prize. In addition to writing and publishing, he occasionally teaches writing workshops. He lives in rural central TX with his trophy wife of 32 years, Robin, where is hobbies include wandering aimlessly about and poking wasp nests with short sticks. As a scientist, Dr. Arthur M. Doweyko has authored 140+ scientific publications and patents, invented novel 3D drug design software, and shares the 2008 Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award for the discovery of Sprycel, a new anti-cancer drug. He has had a life-long interest in art as well as science, notably writing and painting. His favorite writing genres are science fiction and fantasy.

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