In the isolated mountains of Briar County, strangers are watched from behind rifle sights... and trusted by nobody.

When circuit-riding preacher Ezekiel Hale arrives in the hard mountain settlement of Rattler's Gap, he finds a people shaped by fear, blood feuds, and secrets buried deep in the hills. The old church stands abandoned. Families lock their doors at sundown. And the powerful McCray clan rules the mountains through intimidation and violence.

Hale came carrying only a Bible and the hope of bringing God's word back to the forgotten hollers of Appalachia.

But the mountains have their own laws.

As tensions rise and darkness closes around the Gap, the preacher discovers that saving souls in Briar County may cost him his own life. Because in a land where men settle disputes with rifles and silence hides terrible sins, even a man of faith may be forced to stand and fight.

A gritty Appalachian frontier novel of faith, fear, and redemption in the shadow of the mountains.