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The People of Broken Neck by Silas Dent Zobal

From the woods where he hides with his nearly grown son Clarke and his young daughter King, ex-Army Ranger Dominick Sawyer watches Agent Charlie Basin’s flashlight beam bounce on the walls inside his cabin. Dom’s wife is missing. His post-trauma hallucinations rip at him explosively and bring him to his knees. And a local deputy sheriff is dead. When the FBI agents recede into the night, the Sawyers begin to run, across the country in stolen trucks, leaving a trail of blood behind them. Together with a young girl they pick up on the road, they hope to run until they find a peaceable place in the American Northwest.

But Agent Basin sees his own troubled family reflected in Dom’s haunted existence, and his pursuit is relentless.

All any of them want is to spirit King away to someplace safe.

All she wants is not to be afraid of her father and to find out why her mother disappeared.

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Author’s Bio

Silas Dent Zobal was born in Bellingham, Washington in 1973.  He was raised in Rockford, Illinois. He earned a bachelor’s degree from DePaul University, an MFA from the University of Washington, and a PhD from Binghamton University. He has been published in the Missouri Review, Glimmer Train, New Orleans Review, North American Review, Green Mountain Review, Shenandoah, and elsewhere.  He has been awarded a NEA fiction fellowship, won the Glimmer Train Fiction Open, and been a scholar at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference.

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My Review

5 stars

Dominick Sawyer is a former US Army Ranger that has seen his share of war. But his experiences haunt him with a severe case of PTSD leading to arguments with his wife eventually leaving. Dom loves his kids and will do anything for them. After a sheriff is found dead FBI agent Charlie Basin is called in to investigate and learns that Dom has taken his kids on the run. What follows is a game of cat and mouse from Pennsylvania to Maine to Washington. Charlie is determined to catch Dom but at the same times finds himself relating to the father protecting his children.

This is a touching story. Dom is a soldier and suffers horribly from his time in duty. He is trying his best but that doesn’t keep his whole family together. It does mean that he is willing to do whatever it takes to keep his kids safe. Charlie can relates to Dom since he has a daughter of his own. He is having a hard time relating to her but he still would do whatever it takes to protect her too.

It is easy to get drawn into this story with the rich writing and the beautiful imagery throughout the country. Both Dom and Charlie are great characters and the opposite points add depth to the story.

If you are looking for a great thriller, look no further. This is one book that you need to add to your shelves.

I received The People of Broken Neck from Wildbound Literary PR for free. This has in no way influenced my opinion of this book.