Fans of J. T. Ellison and Tami Hoag will find a new favorite in J. R. Backlund's second installment of the Rachel Carver mysteries. Ex-SBI agent Rachel Carver's past comes back to haunt her as she uncovers a trail of murderous revenge - and a horrifying secret.

Rachel Carver's career with the North Carolina Bureau of Investigation came to a shuddering halt after her last case led to the collateral death of an innocent woman and a shameful cover-up by her superiors, She's turned in her badge and is settling in to a new life as a legal investigator - but Rachel's past won't leave her alone. While on assignment for a prominent law firm, she uncovers a link between a recent grizzly murder and the case that ruined her career. The discovery is no coincidence. A hidden player is manipulating Rachel into uncovering the truth once and for all. And the stakes turn even deadlier when the killer strikes again.

On the run and desperate for answers, she peels back the layers of the victims' lives - and discovers a shocking litany of murder and lies that began in a moment of fury on the front lines of the war in Afghanistan, and now threatens to claim even more victims.

Even if Rachel can prove her innocence, she might not be able to save her own life in Down the Broken Road, the second pulse-pounding novel in J. R. Backlund's Rachel Carver mysteries.