Margins
GONE book cover
GONE
A Ham Novel
2023
First Published
4.57
Average Rating
508
Number of Pages

Part of Series

“It’s time for you to go be who you are, or the next time something happens, you won’t be any help to any of us.” Two months ago, the unthinkable happened. Ham’s family was attacked, pulling her back to the wilds of Idaho from her life on the opposite end of the country. A return trip that saw her do whatever was necessary to protect them, culminating not just with the removal of the threat, but in the destruction of the only home she – or the many young girls who now live there – have ever known. Forced on the run across state lines, the time since has been spent slowly rebuilding. A process Ham has willingly engaged in, consciously putting the growing restlessness within her at arm’s length. A calling from both the life she had built and the skills she worked so hard to attain. A second self-imposed exile that ends with her handler reaching out. Contact he wouldn’t normally dare make, if not for the extreme nature of a new case he knew would speak to her personally, paralleling something they both witnessed during their time in the military together. Seven hundred miles away, a vicious attack known as an annihilation has taken place. A coordinated strike, encompassing three different sites, all aimed at a particular family. Three generations of an agricultural dynasty completely wiped from the earth in a single night. The event completely upends the small community where they reside and draws Ham into a much different role than what she’s accustomed to. A partnership with local law enforcement that takes her from the small towns dotting the western half of Oregon to the capital city of Portland seeking the people and reasons behind such an attack. A search that eventually becomes a hunt, at long last letting the true nature kept bottled for months rise back to the surface...

Avg Rating
4.57
Number of Ratings
655
5 STARS
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4 STARS
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3 STARS
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2 STARS
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1 STARS
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Author

Dustin Stevens
Dustin Stevens
Author · 65 books

I originally hail from the midwest, growing up in the heart of farm country, and still consider it, along with West Tennessee, my co-home. Between the two, I have a firm belief that football is the greatest of all past-times, sweet tea is really the only acceptable beverage for any occasion, there is not an event on earth that either gym shorts or boots can't be worn to, and that Dairy Queen is the best restaurant on the planet. Further, southern accents are a highly likeable feature on most everybody, English bulldogs sit atop the critter hierarchy, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with a Saturday night spent catfishing at the lake. Since leaving the midwest I've been to college in New England, grad school in the Rockies, and lived in over a dozen different cities ranging from DC to Honolulu along the way. Each and every one of these experiences has shaped who I am at this point, a fact I hope is expressed in my writing. I have developed enormous affinity for locales and people of every size and shape, and even if I never figure out a way to properly convey them on paper, I am very much grateful for their presence in my life. To sum it up, I asked a very good friend recently how they would describe me for something like this. Their response: "Plagued by realism and trained by experiences/education to be a pessimist, you somehow remain above all else an active dreamer." While I can't say those are the exact words I would choose, I can't say they're wrong. I travel, live in different places, try new foods, meet all kinds of different people, and above all else stay curious to a fault. Here's hoping it continues to provide us all with some pretty good stories...

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