GUNBARREL HIGHWAY

A bad morning turns fatal when a car crash kills a congressional candidate’s wife in Bridges’ thriller.

Daniel Morrison is a man at rock bottom dealing with a terrible job, divorce, and drug addiction. He’s late for work after another fight with his soon to be ex-wife Judy when he gets a call from his bully of a boss. The pressure is too much—he takes a pill while speeding down the road and crashes into a car driven by Claudia Grant. She is also speeding, talking on the phone with her lover; her marriage to congressional candidate Hayden Grant has hit a dead end. When the car crash results in her death, Hayden offers a million-dollar bounty to anyone who can find the responsible party. Daniel first makes his way to his sister Jessica and brother-in-law Ron’s house, where Ron hears of the bounty and tries to turn Daniel in. A violent and chaotic turn of events sends Daniel on the move again. Tracking him down is Detective Roya Navarro, who lives in the shadow of a scandal in which she agreed to a televised interview that ended in her slapping the reporter after he asked about her abusive ex. Now that same reporter, Gary Grey, is also on the case, dedicated to getting the story on Daniel before anyone else. Bridges uses brevity in his prose to emphasize the exhilarating events: “The passenger door is ripped open. Daniel holds onto the frame and his foot drags in the road. Panic sticks in his throat. He blurts out one word. ‘Drive.’” Bridge’s thriller is a fast-paced, action-packed story with a cast of memorable characters. Daniel is a complex protagonist, not entirely likable but always relatable. Detective Navarro drives the narrative forward with her intelligent decisions and grounded character. Both characters pick up an additional person who helps them along their journeys, adding parallel narratives to the cat-and-mouse chase. The ending surprises while tying up all the threads of the story in a satisfying manner.

An absorbing thriller that will keep readers guessing.