Frank Wheeler Jr.

  Earl Haack, Jr. was raised to be Machiavelli in cowboy boots.

  Growing up with his father’s brutal brand of peacemaking as sheriff of a small town on a major drug corridor, Junior swore there had to be a better way to keep the order his father taught him must come first—before peace, before prosperity. But as a young narcotics deputy in Denver, he quickly learns that the drug trade that threatens that order is never going to end. A man charged with policing it can either give up or learn to control the chaos around him. Junior’s father was right: order comes first, and order is built on bloodshed.