Night of Thunder — Stephen Hunter

THE NEED FOR SPEED...
As the county sheriff's department braces for the endless traffic jams and relentless revelry of their annual NASCAR week. reporter Nikki Swagger searches for a methamphetamine lab that fuels the sleepy Tennessee town's lucrative drug trade. She stumbles upon a compound run by a violent clan of fire-and-brimstone gangsters. but after a shadowy figure drives her off the road and into a coma, it's clear salvation is the last thing on their agenda.

A BRUTAL CRASH COURSE...
Seeking clues to his daughter's tut-and-run. fearless hero Bob Lee Swagger peels back the layers of a Southern-fried conspiracy bubbling with angst. resentment. and dysfunction that begins with a ruthless family of deranged evangelicals and runs straight through the sheriff's office. With Nikki's life at stake. Swagger will stop at nothing. but when he faces a bloodthirsty opponent known as "Sinnerman." he realizes that in this town, racin' ain't the only way to die..