Kindle Price:	$16.99
Sold by:	Simon & Schuster Digital Sales LLC Price set by seller.

Read with our free app

You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.

Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

There was an error. We were unable to process your subscription due to an error. Please refresh and try again.

Follow the author

Bart Paul

+ Follow

More books from this author

Cheatgrass: A Tommy Smith High Country Noir, Book Two Kindle Edition

by Bart Paul (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.3 1,077 ratings

Book 2 of 4: Tommy Smith High Country Noir

See all formats and editions

The follow-up to Under Tower Peak is another taut, fast-moving thriller that builds to an explosive, action-filled conclusion.

Under Tower Peak was acclaimed by the Wall Street Journal as one of the Ten Best Mysteries of 2013. In this sequel, Tommy Smith, the Iraq War vet and former Eastern Sierra packer, is home from war after re-upping for a tour in Afghanistan. When his old friend Dave Cathcart disappears from his ranch, Tommy answers the call to help find him. What he learns is that his love for Dave's daughter, his old flame Sarah Cathcart, has never died, but the country where he grew up is undergoing change. Stockmen are selling off water rights to the highest bidder, rendering ranches barren and the community bitter, as drugs and a dangerous new element have moved in.

When Sarah confides that her husband, a smooth-talking entrepreneur, has lost her trust and may not be all he seems, Tommy begins to investigate. Soon another disappearance leads to a gruesome discovery, and a brutal sequence of events takes Sarah and Tommy to old haunts in the high country, where once again he will need to call on his sniper's skills to save them both and to rescue her missing father.

Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade, Yucca, and Good Books imprints, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fictionnovels, novellas, political and medical thrillers, comedy, satire, historical fiction, romance, erotic and love stories, mystery, classic literature, folklore and mythology, literary classics including Shakespeare, Dumas, Wilde, Cather, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Set in Nevada ranching country, Paul’s stunning sequel to 2013’s Under Tower Peak brings back his tough but reflective hero, Sgt. Tommy Smith, and evokes a sense of place that seems almost timeless. . . . Each plot reveal feels simultaneously shocking and inevitable. High tension and gorgeous Americana make this a standout." —Kirkus, starred review

“A Tarrantino-like thriller that’s hard to put down.” —Booklist

“Bart Paul writes about California's northern ranch lands the way James Lee Burke writes about the Louisiana bayou country. Cheatgrass is a fast-paced, character-driven literary thriller that will leave you longing to read more novels featuring Sergeant Tommy Smith. Cheatgrass should be a strong contender for both the Edgar and Golden Spur awards.” —Howard Frank Mosher, author of God’s Kingdom and Walking to Gatlinburg

"A fast-moving thriller with a lot of tension. . . . The descriptions of the landscape are wonderful.” —The Daily American

"Fast-paced, this plot will leave you begging for the next novel to be released. . . . Using this gorgeous setting allows the reader to truly feel as if they’re right there." —Suspense Magazine

Praise for Under Tower Peak:

“Under Tower Peak has everything I look for in a thriller—big characters, big action, sharp dialogue, and the magic of place. Bart Paul brings the California mountains to life through Iraqi war sniper Tommy Smith, a tough soul who would like to forget that war and get on with his life in the great outdoors. This book is engaging as a firefight and haunting as a campfire story.” —T. Jefferson Parker, author of The Famous and the Dead and The Jaguar

“A superb contemporary western thriller. Paul's Tommy Smith is right up there with James Lee Burke's Dave Robichaux. . . . Bart Paul knows his High Sierra country inside out. Under Tower Peak is a beautifully-written, searingly honest literary thriller by a first-rate storyteller and outdoorsman.” —Howard Frank Mosher, author of Walking to Gatlinburg

“A great Western thriller. Bart Paul knows how to keep things interesting and his attention to detail is pitch-perfect—from how to pack a horse to the relationship between two modern-day cowboys. In Tommy Smith, he has created a Western hero that is part John Wayne and part James Bond. Under Tower Peak is a hard book to put down.” —Dan O’Brien, author of Stolen Horses and Buffalo for the Broken Heart

“Paul writes with spare, clean, hard-driving prose that skates along morality's knife-edge—writing reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy and James Lee Burke—all the while layered with lush, keenly observed descriptions of the natural world and man’s place in it. Wild-country noir with gripping, compelling action.” —Kirkus Reviews

“A superior blend of thriller and contemporary western, full of gun lore and with a fine appreciation of the Sierra Nevada wilderness. And Paul’s spare, reflective style recalls Hemingway.” —Booklist, starred review

“A scenic, suspenseful debut novel turns out to be one of the best of the season. . . . Bart Paul’s debut novel displays some formidable influences—Hemingway, for instance . . . Shadows of Cormac McCarthy and Jim Harrison also flutter across the pages of this swift-moving tale. . . . The nonstop action in Under Tower Peak is well-paced, the plot twists surprising (even shocking), and the occasional humor welcome. . . . A must-read.” —Wall Street Journal

"Set in Nevada ranching country, Paul’s stunning sequel to 2013’s Under Tower Peak brings back his tough but reflective hero, Sgt. Tommy Smith, and evokes a sense of place that seems almost timeless. . . . Each plot reveal feels simultaneously shocking and inevitable. High tension and gorgeous Americana make this a standout." Kirkus, starred review

A Tarrantino-like thriller that’s hard to put down.” Booklist

Bart Paul writes about California's northern ranch lands the way James Lee Burke writes about the Louisiana bayou country. Cheatgrass is a fast-paced, character-driven literary thriller that will leave you longing to read more novels featuring Sergeant Tommy Smith. Cheatgrass should be a strong contender for both the Edgar and Golden Spur awards.” Howard Frank Mosher, author of God’s Kingdom and Walking to Gatlinburg

"A fast-moving thriller with a lot of tension. . . . The descriptions of the landscape are wonderful.” The Daily American

"Fast-paced, this plot will leave you begging for the next novel to be released. . . . Using this gorgeous setting allows the reader to truly feel as if they’re right there." Suspense Magazine

Praise for Under Tower Peak:

Under Tower Peak has everything I look for in a thrillerbig characters, big action, sharp dialogue, and the magic of place. Bart Paul brings the California mountains to life through Iraqi war sniper Tommy Smith, a tough soul who would like to forget that war and get on with his life in the great outdoors. This book is engaging as a firefight and haunting as a campfire story.” T. Jefferson Parker, author of The Famous and the Dead and The Jaguar

A superb contemporary western thriller. Paul's Tommy Smith is right up there with James Lee Burke's Dave Robichaux. . . . Bart Paul knows his High Sierra country inside out. Under Tower Peak is a beautifully-written, searingly honest literary thriller by a first-rate storyteller and outdoorsman.” Howard Frank Mosher, author of Walking to Gatlinburg

A great Western thriller. Bart Paul knows how to keep things interesting and his attention to detail is pitch-perfectfrom how to pack a horse to the relationship between two modern-day cowboys. In Tommy Smith, he has created a Western hero that is part John Wayne and part James Bond. Under Tower Peak is a hard book to put down.” Dan O’Brien, author of Stolen Horses and Buffalo for the Broken Heart

Paul writes with spare, clean, hard-driving prose that skates along morality's knife-edgewriting reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy and James Lee Burkeall the while layered with lush, keenly observed descriptions of the natural world and man’s place in it. Wild-country noir with gripping, compelling action.” Kirkus Reviews

A superior blend of thriller and contemporary western, full of gun lore and with a fine appreciation of the Sierra Nevada wilderness. And Paul’s spare, reflective style recalls Hemingway.” Booklist, starred review

A scenic, suspenseful debut novel turns out to be one of the best of the season. . . . Bart Paul’s debut novel displays some formidable influencesHemingway, for instance . . . Shadows of Cormac McCarthy and Jim Harrison also flutter across the pages of this swift-moving tale. . . . The nonstop action in Under Tower Peak is well-paced, the plot twists surprising (even shocking), and the occasional humor welcome. . . . A must-read.” Wall Street Journal

About the Author

Bart Paul is the author of TV documentaries, short stories, the biography Double-Edged Sword: The Many Lives of Hemingway’s Friend, the American Matador Sidney Franklin, and the novels in his Tommy Smith High Country Noir series, including Under Tower Peak, Cheatgrass, See That My Grave Is Kept Clean, and Trail of the Fallen. Throughout his school years, he spent summers working on cattle ranches and pack outfits in California’s Eastern Sierra. After living in Southern California for many years, he now divides his time between Bridgeport, California, near Yosemite, and Smith Valley, Nevada—the ranching country of his novels.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01B11TS18
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Arcade (March 1, 2016)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 1, 2016
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1314 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 314 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #575,948 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #3,165 in Small Town & Rural Fiction (Kindle Store)
- #3,639 in Military Thrillers (Books)
- #5,968 in Amateur Sleuth Mysteries (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
4.3 1,077 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Bart Paul

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Bart Paul is the author of TV documentaries, short stories, the biography Double-Edged Sword: The Many Lives of Hemingway’s Friend, the American Matador Sidney Franklin (University of Nebraska Press, 2009), Under Tower Peak (Arcade, 2013), and Cheatgrass (Arcade, 2016). Throughout his school years, he spent summers working on cattle ranches and pack outfits in California’s Eastern Sierra. After graduating from U.C. Berkeley and years in southern California, he now divides his time between Bridgeport, California, near Yosemite, and Smith Valley, Nevada – the ranching country of his novels.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5

1,077 global ratings

How customer reviews and ratings work

Sort reviews by

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Kindle Customer

... has been a while since I have read a good, modern western thriller

Reviewed in the United States on June 21, 2016

Verified Purchase

It has been a while since I have read a good, modern western thriller. The story is about a military sniper named Tommy Smith who was asked by a former girlfriend to come home as her dad had disappeared. To say much more would ruin the story, so I'll stick with the mechanics.

How is the story narrated: Told in the first person. Bart Paul has a mastery for engaging the reader from the protagonists point-of-view. The actions and responses for the characters are mostly realistic.

Does the story stand alone? Yes. There is an earlier novel in the same area with the same protagonist but the story stands on its own. The end also "ends!" No leaving of loose ends and needing to wait for the next in the series to continue the story.

How did you pick this story? I subscribe to daily listings of books from bookbub.com. I believe this was listed as an action/adventure genre, which it is but not in the usual military, political way. I picked it up as it was only $1.99.

Is there a lot of swearing? No. There are a few spots where swearing occurs but it is appropriate for the situation.

What about romance. If you are looking for any explicit scenes, you won't find it here. That doesn't mean that there aren't some "attractions" occurring. And of course, there is the the conflict between the estranged husband and the old boyfriend for the girl, who also happens to be a deputy sheriff.

What can you add about the book? The book is set along the eastern Sierra mountains around the California/Nevada border. I have lived in this same area, herding cattle and riding the trails in the same area. To be honest, this book is very realistic as to the area even though many places are given fictitious names. I can visualize the State Line Lodge (in reality, the Topaz Lodge), the west Fremont river (the west Walker), the Pine Nut mountains, etc. Some places in the story are described by their real names and some are fictitious but the author has done an excellent job of putting you there just as it is. I laugh at his observations and comments about some who are obviously not cowboys nor do they know ranching. Yet he allows the reader to absorb what it is like to be a rancher from this area well.

This book can be read by just about anybody, young or old. You do not need to be interested in westerns to enjoy the story. It can be described more as a thriller that is set with a western background. It has a refreshing storyline that is different but realistic. I found the story to have good rhythm. It moved along well, not to fast and not too slow. The ending wasn't abrupt and resolved well.

23 people found this helpful

Helpful

Erik

A really good book. I read it within two days and ...

Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2016

Verified Purchase

A really good book. I read it within two days and probably would have finished it in one day but I fell asleep around midnight. I thought the characters were believable and well fleshed out. It is obvious Bart Paul knows about horses and packing but it would have been helpful if there was a glossary for many of the terms used in the book because Wikipedia and the Kindle dictionary was of no help. I also read Bart's other book "Under Tower Peak" and would rate it the same way. Though Cheatgrass as a story will stand by itself you should probably read Under Tower Peak first.

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

123barn456

Exciting book!

Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2024

Verified Purchase

But a hero named "Tommy Smith"? Must be a story behind that.

Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2016

Verified Purchase

Very fun to read a modern Western! Descriptions of the land, the flora and fauna made the story come alive...several times I Googled the trees or grasses and various items used on a working cattle ranch.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Pr1vacy

Another Winner! As good as the first one - "Under Tower Peak"

Reviewed in the United States on November 22, 2017

Verified Purchase

Sequel to the hotly commended "Under Tower Peak", where a cowboy - and former sniper - Tommy Smith is struggling to beat the bad guys, who would do anything to secure enormous amount of money and inheritance from the deceased billionaire from plane crash that was accidentally discovered by Tommy and his friend Nester. It was slow-burning thriller that emanated the hard boiled, Hemingway-type feel.

Cheatgrass starts the story after two years since the incident described on the first installment. Tommy took an emergency leave upon getting the 'help me find my mysteriously-disappeared dad' call from Sarah, whom he has long been smitten with since he was twelve. This second installment also starts slow, then quickly building murderous tension between him and Sarah's estranged - and deranged - husband Kip. It has become clear that this is another winner in terms of developing web of conflicts with dense plots, risks and dangers, complemented with now more prominent love interest between Tommy and Sarah; and of describing beautifully the rugged landscape that seems matching well with the meandering, sometimes steep story-telling. Tommy's narration sounds perfect for the story and atmosphere of the background as well.

One thing I felt wanting was that the sequel seems to be more like the scenes from movie "Die Hard" or gun-related carnages we hear more often than we hope from the U.S., rather than a more realistic and small-scale personal conflict like the first, despite that it involved dead billionaire and gambling thugs. The second installment involves too many killings and too many guns, although which may look fitting to the U.S. situation.

6 people found this helpful

Helpful

Sunlakeraz

Hard Core Living in the Nevada Mountains, Just Trying to Stay alive.

Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2016

Verified Purchase

Cheatgrass is a very satisfying book that looks at life in Nevada, and people making ends meet by struggling with their farms, cattle, and horses. Bart Paul has captured the difficulty and challenges of surviving today's problems with skill, cunning, and sometimes with tradecraft picked up while serving with the US Military. It is a nicely paced story that adds to the history of the country.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Ted Duke

An enjoyable read, will try another one by this author.

Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2023

Verified Purchase

An interesting adventure mystery. Good scenic descriptions, great characters, action, horses and romance. What more could you ask for?

Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2022

Verified Purchase

Hard to imagine such a flurry of bad activities as told in this story. The action keeps rolling, and it surely was a page turner. The bad guy was really over the top. I would say unbelievable but I’m not so sure these days.

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

country boy

Thrilling

Reviewed in Canada on September 20, 2020

Verified Purchase

Hard to keep the names and characters sorted but sure keeps you reading. A story of good versus evil with an unknown ending.

Wayne Jennings

Great conclusion to a two part story!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 24, 2017

Verified Purchase

This is the second novel in a series of two, Under Tower Peak being the first one. Both are excellent if you like strong silent type heroes who are canny and emotionally fairly damaged. I loved the series though I think the villain in the second book, this one is too sociopathic to have set up and carried out the stuff he does, too willing to kill needlessly and [spoiler alert] the way the author solves the problem of an inconvenient girlfriend is only barely plausible. That said the story races along, the central relationship is very strong and the world that Bart Paul creates is terrific. Maybe a few too many names for people who don't know that part of the world. Still I loved the book and look forward to the next one eagerly.

Doug

Great read. Up with James Lee Burke.

Reviewed in Australia on April 22, 2022

Verified Purchase

A gritty, tough guy book with a great ending. Reminded me very much of James Lee Burke characters. Very believable characters.

paulmixsee

Big Country shenanigans

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 4, 2017

Verified Purchase

Americana, well away from the big cities, how the other half live. Big Country rural folk. An entertaining story about real Americans.

Splash

A dark story with a good ending

Reviewed in Australia on October 8, 2020

Verified Purchase

The story was fast paced with a lot of action.
I can relate to the love of the country and it’s difficult nature so struck a cord within my self. A lot of violence some of which was probably not necessary for the story.
The language used I found difficult to follow in some spots as the abbreviations and terms had no reference to my own experiences in country life in the Australian outback. Overall a good story and read and I would recommend it to readers

Buy for others

Buying and sending eBooks to others

Follow the author

Image Unavailable

Cheatgrass: A Tommy Smith High Country Noir, Book Two Kindle Edition

Editorial Reviews

Review

About the Author

Product details

Videos

About the author

Bart Paul

Customer reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries