The Bitter Past

DEBUT Borgos writes a compelling story with two timelines and elements of mystery, espionage, and history. Sheriff Porter Beck of Lincoln County, NV, was in the Army for 20 years, but he’s never seen anything like the torture and murder of FBI agent Ralph Atterbury. He suspects that Ralph’s killer didn’t find the files the retired agent might have hidden. When FBI agent Sana Locke shows up, she gives Beck just enough information to realize he’s looking for a killer with connections to the past. In the 1950s and for decades afterward, there were nuclear tests in the area. The KGB sent one man to infiltrate the test sites, but that spy was horrified when he saw the results of the nuclear tests. He took action, but not in the way the KGB expected. Over 60 years later, someone is looking for that man, presumed to be in his 80s. When a young woman disappears, Beck realizes it’s a distraction to divide his small team. Beck calls on family members to protect the unidentified former spy and take down a well-armed opponent.