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Readers seeking a l-o-n-g thriller they can sink their teeth into, one that’s rich with characters and history, need seek no more. 

D.P. Harshman’s The Wolf & The Fox Volume 1, Beginning of the Middle (D&D Publications LLC) is the first of a planned six volumes, each averaging 700 pages. The first lays the foundation of the story to come and introduces the intertwined threads of global war, terrorism, murder, mystery and romance. 

The story begins in the year 2034 as Ezekiel Zachariah Wolf, head of a 16,000-acre Colorado cattle ranch, is shot and killed while clearing land the local sheriff’s department needs to trailer their search-and-rescue horses. His body is never found.

Jumping ahead eleven years to 2045, Jeremiah Wolf (aka JW), Ezekiel’s son, is a (much) decorated Navy commander and a former college football star. He’s also now a special agent for NCIS/DCIS (Naval/Defense Criminal Investigative Services), soon to assume command of the new Tri-County Sheriff’s Department in Colorado, part of a secret federal war effort. Following an attack by the Chinese Communists, all of the U.S. is an official war zone.

REPORTING FOR DUTY

Also reporting for duty is JW’s Northern Rocky Mountain wolf, appropriately named Wolf, a registered Police K9, combat-trained and proven Military War “Dog” with the rank of chief petty officer and medals of its own. For generations, men of the Wolf family have always had a wolf by their side.

Wounded in his last heroic mission overseas, JW leaves Bethesda Naval Hospital without doctors’ approval, but all planes out have been grounded. More space junk is falling to earth after the Chinese Communists targeted communication and weather satellites several years earlier (an attack known as Sky Fall), and a massive blizzard is building in the West.

The blizzard also changes the plans of world-famous superstar singer Eva “Crystal” Bell. Taking a break from her national tour to visit a friend in Colorado, she takes a wrong turn while driving in heavy snow. Her rental car skids off the road and down a steep mountainside. 

Trapped inside and slowly freezing to death, Eva reflects on her life: how a farm girl from Iowa won first place in The Americas’ Talent Show and then found herself suddenly rich, on tour and a fashion icon. Her retro-full skirts, flounced with petticoats, along with her seamed stockings have sparked a new trend.

If her car radio worked, she’d likely hear a selection from her just-released Merry Christmas World double-disc album. Instead, she’s looking for a pen and paper to write her will.

ALTERNATIVE-FUTURE-HISTORY

The Wolf & The Fox Volume 1 is an alternative-future history. During the 25 years between now and the events of the book, the U.S. economy nearly collapses; people starve to death and orphanages fill to overcapacity. The Ultra Libs and their resistance movement nearly destroy the FBI, the justice system, the electoral system and the Supreme Court.

In response, the Nine Amendments Of Correction, known as the 9AOC’s, strip away all federal, state and local laws that contravene the Constitution, and reinforce the Second Amendment, the right to bear arms. About that AOC acronym? A coincidence, says Harshman; his concept dates to 2015, before AOC, the person, was on the radar. “One reason I used the term ‘ultra-liberal,’ is that I did not want to paint with a broad brush all liberals, because that would not be true. 

“I am a conservative and I freely admit this is a conservative’s novel, but I really don’t try to jam that down anyone’s throat. Where we are now, and where we might end up 25 years from now, is one of the currents of the book’s tapestry.” 

And a tapestry it is. There seems to be something here for every reader’s tastes. The first half of the book is rife with military, aviation and law enforcement details and acronyms (with footnotes to explain them). The second half is more bucolic, set mainly on the Wolf Ranch, and delves into the Wolf family’s 200-year-plus lineage, including some Native American ancestors. Harshman says he designed the book’s cover to look like an old journal to give the flavor of family histories and to open up the idea that we are a multicultural nation.

Harshman’s wide-ranging plot is fast-moving, and in spite of all its intricacies and details, spools out smoothly thanks to vivid descriptions and realistic dialog. Characters speak with authority, whether they are policemen, military servicemen, terrorists, ranchers, superstars or wolves (if wolves could speak). Every aspect of Harshman’s engrossing story will keep readers turning pages; which is perfect, because the second in the series, The Wolf & The Fox Volume 2, Head Winds Rising is also available now.

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About D.P. Harshman:

DP Harshman is entering the professional writer’s arena with a series of novels written to keep you captivated, enthralled and engaged. He brings to his keyboard a background ranging from fire-fighting to construction to engineering and architecture until his personal compass settled on applied computer sciences. Born on a Midwest farm, before growing up in a city then on a small town horse ranch, he spent much of his free time hiking, hunting and off-roading in magnificent mountains and desolate deserts. Harshman retired after a 30-year career in information technology and has a broad background including law enforcement, firefighting, and logging. All of which helped to develop an insatiable curiosity, a desire to solve problems and, of course, the love of a good story. He dedicates his first book to “all of the military, law enforcement, firefighters, paramedics, and citizens, who, often paying the ultimate price, stood up to and continue to stand up to terrorism and tyrannies in its many forms around the world.”

Genre: Fiction
Joanna Poncavage

Joanna Poncavage had a 30-year career as an editor and writer for Rodale’s Organic Gardening magazine and The (Allentown, Pennsylvania) Morning Call newspaper. Author of several gardening books, she’s now a freelance journalist.

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