Hell’s Interstate is an action-packed crime novel about two desperate men traveling down the highway to Hell. Financing their travels by robbing convenience stores along the Interstate, the one predictable fact about their next robbery will be the fact that they will leave no witnesses. Reed Haskell, the ringleader, knows how to rob a store and do it fast, but what he doesn’t know is that someone is watching his partner, Vernon Sanger, very closely.
    Michael Smith, an apparent vagrant they came in contact with one rainy night along the Interstate, keeps showing up wherever they go, and he is not shy about intervening in their business. How he continues to appear, and why he shows up when he does, neither man has an answer to. Although Vernon is curious about the man, for some reason the otherwise unflappable Reed is quite unsettled by him. Does Reed know more about Michael Smith than he’s willing to admit, or does he just suspect the purpose of Michael’s persistent interference?
    If Reed was truly in the dark as to Michael’s identity and purpose, he’d not have long to wait before being enlightened. As for Vernon, that enlightenment lies over ten years away.

The county roads of Kansas cut through peaceful prairies, fertile farmland, and tiny rural communities. In the gently rolling hills along each road, everyone knows their neighbors. Life is safe and predictable, until Reed Haskell and Vern Sanger take their stolen vehicle off the beaten path. Reed is a vicious killer, a murderous animal without heart or conscience. Vern is a prison escapee thrown into Reed's path by chance. Vern is a lonely man who loves his wife and child and contemplates revenge against the man who wrecked his life. He sticks with Reed through a rampage of robbery, murder, and arson because he dreads to be alone, but Vern is not a killer.

Ed Brinks is a retired NYPD cop who moved his family to Kansas for a more peaceful life. When a gas leak and fire destroy his home, he finds himself drawn deep into a mystery he can't explain. Topeka detective Ray LaCosta investigates and soon both men join forces to reveal incredible happenings. A stranger named Michael appears at every juncture of their investigation, saving lives and providing hints to Reed and Sanger's whereabouts before fading into thin air. This same man appears to Reed and Sanger with a warning to Vern: "Respect the life."

I don't want to give the plot away. These four men are thrown together, with the mysterious Michael appearing before and after each crime scene. The answers to questions asked by all four men defy logic and come from the distant past to impact their present and future. DNA and fingerprints provide solutions, but only one small part of the amazing truth.

C.H. Foertmeyer thinks and writes outside the usual genre box. If you are tired of the same old formulaic genres, I recommend you give Hell's Interstate a try.

Laurel Johnson, Midwest Book Review