Thorne's Hazards

Lexington Herald-Leader investigative reporter Clay Hawthorne has made enemies among Kentucky's power elite with hard-hitting exposes of corruption by public officials, businessmen, and non-profit administrators. Important people with their hands in the cookie jar regard "Thorne" as one in their backside. But when his crusty editor Jack Creed assigns him to examine the epidemic of drug abuse and overdose deaths in the Eastern Kentucky mountains, his investigation provokes reactions beyond unpopularity in elite circles and that could prove fatal. Thorne's research concentrates on the small, mountain city of Hazard, a hotbed of trafficking and drug abuse. On the chaotic base of widespread addiction caused by the 1990s flooding of Appalachia with OxyContin by Purdue Pharma and big drug distributors, a powerful, home-grown cartel has arisen. It is trafficking even deadlier drugs and extending its dominion over trafficking by ruthlessly  eliminating local competition. As Thorne seeks to expose the cartel's pipelines, it targets him as a threat. The deeper he digs the greater the danger. Thorne's inquiries bring him into a romantic relationship and investigative partnership with a beautiful, tough anti-narcotics detective. "Thorne's Hazards" traverses a landscape of the rolling hills of the Bluegrass and the jagged contours of hill country. Readers will encounter the fabric of Kentucky: horse farms and thoroughbred racing, "Kentucky Gold" (bourbon); the mountain-city divide, and an Appalachia plagued with drugs like the rest of America.