This novel beautifully captures the life of a fugitive hunter in rural Alaska

This post was sponsored by Kensington Books. The author's comments below on the novel are his own.

Fresh off the latest installment of the Jericho Quinn series and several entries into the Jack Ryan mythos, author Marc Cameron was looking for a much more grounded approach in his most recent novel, Open Carry, the first entry of his next series -- and the results are spectacular on all fronts.

The action is fast-paced and will have you glued to each page. The way the author describes the unforgiving and beautiful Alaskan landscape makes you feel like you're really there. The protagonist is captivating and the supporting characters each carry the story in their own way, but perhaps the greatest feather in the cap of this novel is the emotional depth, which brings a rare degree of realness to the novel.

And, considering that author Marc Cameron lived the same thrilling life as his protagonist, U.S. Marshal Arliss Cutter, that authenticity shouldn't come as a surprise.

It kind of amazes me that U.S. marshals aren't the subject of more thriller novels, films, or TV series. They're basically the walking embodiment of bad-assery.

(Photo by Ryan Lackey)

Marshal Cutter is everything you'd want in a U.S. Army Ranger-turned-law-enforcement-officer. He's stoic, like the star of a western film, he's crafty, like a modern-day Sherlock Holmes, and he always takes the most practical route in stopping criminals.

Early on in the novel, there's a chapter in which Cutter and the Anchorage Police Department raid the apartment of a local drug dealer. Cutter takes his time poring over the details, giving the reader an accurate depiction of how a raid is conducted. Despite the careful planning, however, their plan is foiled at the last possible second, leaving Cutter's partner trapped behind a barricaded door, alone with the massive thug.

He quickly assesses the situation, determines approximately how long his partner has to survive, and, instead of hammering away at a door that obviously won't budge, he breaches through via the adjacent apartment's wall. The novel is filled with fantastic moments of his simple ingenuity. Cameron does a great job of showcasing how plans can quickly devolve, and how quick thinking rules the day in the end.

But a hero is only as enticing as their opposing villain, and Cutter finds his match in Manuel Alvarez-Garza, a cartel hitman who usurped the narcotic kingdom from his arrogant and foolish patrón. He always remains a step ahead of the law enforcement officers by cleverly throwing them off his scent. But the events of the novel aren't your typical game of cat-and-mouse that so often finds its way into the genre. Instead, they play out like an elaborate chess match between two morally-opposite but equally-clever strategists.

It's hard not to wonder whether many of the moments in novel really took place. Author Marc Cameron served as a U.S. Marshal in Alaska, hunting down the fugitives who seek refuge in the Last Frontier. A second-degree black belt in Jiu-jitsu, a man-tracking instructor, and a thirty-year veteran in law enforcement, Cameron has plenty of real-life experience to draw from in his Jericho Quinn thrillers and the Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan novels, but his new series seems to take his brand of gritty, action-packed realism to the next level.

I can honestly say that this novel was one of the best I've read in a good long while and it will keep you hooked — page by page, chapter by chapter.

To hear the author speak in his own words about his writing process for Open Carry, check out the video below.

This post was sponsored by Kensington Books. The author's comments above on the novel are his own.