Article and Interview by Elise Cooper
Cold Trail by Taylor Moore is the last book in the series. On leave from the DEA, Garrett Kohl is ready to settle down and build a stable foundation for his family. But that’s easier said than done. To give his girlfriend, Lacey, and adopted son, Asadi, the life they deserve, and get out from under crippling debt, some risks have to be taken, and shocking alliances must be formed. First, Garrett partners with an old nemesis to form his new energy venture: Savage Exploration. Then his estranged, aloof sister, Grace, reemerges, keen on brokering a contract to connect the Kohl Ranch energy play to a pipeline on the Texas coast. But the company’s earlier success is endangered when an explosion at a nearby natural gas plant injures several workers. Garrett begins to suspect foul play and embarks on an investigation, teaming up with his old war buddy, Kai Stoddard, and reaching out to his CIA contacts. They uncover a sinister conspiracy overseas. There is also Asadi’s brother being rescued by CIA officer Kim Manning. This last book in the series neatly wraps up all the loose ends of the previous stories and characters’ backgrounds.
Elise Cooper: Idea for the story?
Taylor Moore: This finishes up Garrett Cole at least for a while. I live in the Texas High Plains where it is either oil & gas or agriculture, the life blood of what everyone does here. This is on everyone’s mind, including me. Garrett started out as a DEA person, but because of misfortunes he is in debt. To get out of it he had to team up with his nemesis, the Kaiser Family. This story has a domestic terrorist where gas pipelines are blown up. He must go back to his investigative skills and connect the dots to find out who is behind this.
EC: Are there three plotlines?
TM: Yes, they are going on simultaneously. These are only somewhat related. Each of the characters from previous books are endangered and facing their own peril. The continuing story lines play out unrelated to the major crisis. I wanted the readers to have the satisfaction of knowing what happened to the characters. What I left dangling in the previous books I wanted to wrap up with this one.
EC: How would you describe Duke Kaiser?
TM: Duke was mentioned in the first book, Down Range, just one time. In this book he is brought back as a major character. He is a bully, arrogant, selfish, uncaring, and a scumbag. He is not a villain for just a villain’s sake. Part of his DNA is to be a bad human being and part of it is his growing up with no real direction or guiding force.
EC: How would you describe Grace, Garrett’s sister?
TM: I wanted to bring her back into the picture. She returns under mysterious circumstances. She always has a taste for the finer things. Her story in this book is her coming home and having to reintegrate into the family. She is somewhat self-centered with questionable motives, devious, stubborn, and put money ahead of her family. She looks more selfish than she was. She had big dreams and aspirations, which she achieved at a cost to her own happiness. The whole family was broken. When it is all said and done, they became a tight family.
EC: What about Kim?
TM: Kim was someone who was the face of the CIA. I think readers really like her. In the second book, Fire Storm, readers see her point of view and see her as a really good person with a really good heart. When at her job she could be cold, capable, and calculating. She longs for a family and stability.
EC: Why the partial setting of Afghanistan?
TM: Kim and her partner Mario went back there to get closure. This is the same for me. When I started this series, the US was still in Afghanistan. Now four books later the Taliban is back in charge. There are a lot of people like me who worked in the CIA or military and felt very let down. There were national strike units in Afghanistan that Kim and Mario dealt with while knowing they had questionable unsavory tactics. In the book I wrote it takes a monster to kill a monster. I wanted to show how there were Afghans who worked to protect the US forces and to get rid of the Taliban.
EC: You also go into the backstory for Garrett and his friend Kai in Afghanistan?
TM: They were on a particular mission there. It was Kai’s responsibility to save some people, and he failed by having a bad decision. Garrett is living with the aftermath because so many people died in that mission, basically survivor’s guilt.
EC: What about Faraz, the brother of the Afghan child Asadi, who Garrett adopted?
TM: Asadi had a wonderful life after their parents died while Faraz was made to be a child soldier helping the Taliban. He had to survive by his own wits. He is still a good soul who went down a dark path for no fault of this own.
EC: Next book?
TM: It will have CIA shadow government. It is more of a mystery than a thriller. It will take place in the Chesapeake Bay area.
EC: THANK YOU!!
