Fulton lived through a drought in Texas, and that experience informs her wonderfully gritty description of what happens to the landscape and people during extended and relentless sun and heat. Fulton delivered a great read that surprised and thrilled me in equal measure. Scanning the list of semi-finalists for the contest (my novel was also on the list), the premise of The Drought caught my eye I couldn’t wait to see how the author would deliver on the cover tagline: “Killer heat is only the beginning.” The short answer is: Ms.

These two threads, and many more, are woven together in The Drought by Patricia Fulton ( a finalist in The Kindle Book Review’s Best Indie Books of 2012 contest and most deservedly so. The drought has been here before, too, and some people are worried about what the return of the hot, dry weather may mean. Meanwhile on the other end of the drought, the heat is also rising as a small-town sheriff in Louisiana makes a gruesome and surprising discovery. A rancher kills his best livestock before turning the gun on himself, just the first of a series of disturbing events in the small town. Many of the old-timers have experienced conditions like this before, and they know what’s coming. The temperatures are hot and getting hotter, and there’s no sign of rain in Junction, Texas. If you get this book, and I highly recommend you do, expect to be pulled deeply into the deep and twisting story about good and evil from the first paragraph. An engrossing, thrilling and immensely satisfying debut novel that strongly reminded me of the best of Stephen King.