Borderline

On a travel story about Benedict Arnold, freelance reporter Jack McMorrow traces the route of the infamous historical figure up the Kennebec River into Quebec, Canada. When a man fails to rejoin his bus tour in the Northern Maine town of Scanesett, Jack makes a pit stop there to help authorities find him and soon finds himself entangled with a bunch of lethal small-town hoods who make bad sport of the weak and defenseless. Threatened, beaten up, and forced into a terrifying game of redneck hide-and-seek, McMorrow faces his most ruthless criminals yet. This, the fifth installment of Islandport’s updated and revised paperback and e-book editions of the internationally best-selling Jack McMorrow series, takes its readers across state lines into the tangled world of mistaken identities, traitorous dealings, and a dangerous hunt for a man no one seems to know much about. Originally published in 1998, Islandport edition includes new introduction by author.

Like many crime novelists, Boyle began his writing career in newspapers—the best training ground ever. After Colby College, he knocked around, including stints as a roofer, a postman, and a manuscript reader at a big New York publisher. His first reporting job was with a weekly in the paper mill town of Rumford, Maine. After a few months it was on to the (Waterville, Maine) Morning Sentinel, where editors learned early on that he worked best when left to his own devices. He wrote about tuff he saw in police stations, courtrooms, in the towns and cities of Maine. Deadline came out in 1993. With an assist from Robert B. Parker, he landed a top-flight literary agent and the books came steadily after that. McMorrow and Boyle grew up together, though at different rates.