About the Author

Erik Storey is a former ranch hand, wilderness guide, dogsled musher, and hunter. He spent his childhood summers growing up on his great-grandfather's homestead or in a remote cabin in Colorado's Flat Tops wilderness. He has earned a number of sharpshooter and marksman qualifications. He is the author of three Clyde Barr novels, Nothing Short of Dying, A Promise to Kill, and the forthcoming Leave No One Alive. He and his family live in Grand Junction, Colorado.

Reviews

"You will be hard-pressed to find anything this year that approaches the quality of this . . . A Promise to Kill is a terrific novel with a timeless premise: a stranger wanders into a bad situation not of his making, kicks posterior, gets his own posterior kicked, and emerges from the other side, bloodied and bent but unbowed . . . This second novel meets and exceeds the promise of that work, with enough explosions, suspense and fisticuffs to fill three books with change left over. Naturally, I loved every word of it."
--Book Reporter

"One of the best thrillers of the year . . . Extraordinarily well-written and well-crafted, A Promise To Kill is exciting, entertaining, plausible, realistic, and moves along flawlessly . . . This is a truly great thriller--so full of nail-biting suspense and surprises and fast-paced action that it actually is difficult to put down. Erik Story is not just a really good writer--he's a great one."
--Washington Times

"One of the summer's best mystery novels . . . A Sam Peckinpah via Peter Fonda motorcycle western, but with drones . . . [Storey] gives a high-country nod to the influence of legendary Florida mystery writer John D. MacDonald."
--Outside magazine

"[Features] a fantasy figure of immortal appeal: the loner who rides into a town in trouble, rescues the folks by pulverizing the troublemakers, and leaves, much to the disappointment of the townsfolk . . . Entertaining . . . especially for those come for the action."
--Booklist

"Nail-biting . . . Readers will have a hard time putting this thriller down."
--Publishers Weekly

"If you loved Erik Storey's debut novel Nothing Short of Dying as much as I did, then you're already hooked on this author, and it won't take much to convince you to read A Promise to Kill. Clyde Barr, Storey's iconic American hero/drifter, is saddled up and back. Barr never looks for trouble, but trouble is all around him in the rough country he travels, and Barr does not ride away from trouble--or evil. A Promise to Kill promises intense, edge-of-the-seat excitement to anyone who picks it up." --Nelson DeMille, New York Times bestselling author of The Lion's Game and Nightfall

"Not just good but great. A Promise to Kill delivers on the promise of Story's debut novel by showing protagonist Clyde Barr confronting even more insurmountable odds, and making the bad guys wish they'd stayed home. The Clyde Barr thrillers are my favorites, and Erik Storey is my favorite thriller writer. There's not even a close second."
--Benjamin Whitmer, author of Pike and Cry Father and coauthor of New York Times Editors' Choice memoir Satan Is Real

"Clyde Barr's life is like being in one of those cities with no left turns, when no matter how many times you turn right, you can't get away. He's a fascinating character, and Erik Storey is coming up fast as a writer. He keeps the story moving, and keeps you caring. "
--James Sallis, Hammet Award-winning author of Drive (basis of the Cannes-winning film), The Killer Is Dying, and the Lew Griffin Series

"I devoured A Promise to Kill in one sitting. It takes off at escape velocity and never relents. Do not mess with Clyde Barr."
--Meg Gardiner, Edgar Award-winning author of China Lake, Phantom Instinct, and The Shadow Tracer

"I loved it! I couldn't stop turning the pages. You don't read this book so much as you hold on and try to keep up. Clyde Barr is so tough I'm honestly a little afraid of Erik Storey right now."
--Rob Hart, author of New Yorked, City of Rose, South Village and The Woman from Prague

"The novel's hero, Clyde Barr, is a throwback to Billy Jack or Jan Michael Vincent in the 1980 classic Defiance, a lone wolf who roams from town to town, settling temporarily where he is most needed. This time it's an Indian reservation overrun by outlaw bikers, and Storey proves masterful at keeping the pages turning. Barr is a man who places morals over money, and honor above might; one who runs toward trouble, forever committed to fighting the good fight--the kind of man all little boys dream of being."
--Joe Clifford, author of Lamentation, December Boys and Give Up the Dead