The Forgotten Coast: A Sun-soaked Mystery

By James Harvest

He thought he'd left the darkness behind. But the tide was about to bring it all back.

Jake Mercer was a rising star in the FBI, until a botched operation left his partner dead and his career in ruins. Now, he's hiding out as a reclusive oyster man on Florida's remote Forgotten Coast, where the sun is hot, the beer is cold, and the past can't find him. He's desperate to forget. But the Gulf of Mexico has other plans.

When Jake's dredge hauls up a grisly cargo-a body wrapped in chains, branded with the signature of a mythical cartel assassin known only as The Pelican-he's thrust back into the world he fled. The local sheriff writes it off as a drug war killing. But Jake's trained eyes see what others miss: this was no ordinary hit. The victim's hands are soft. The killing is too precise. And the small, exquisitely carved wooden pelican left on the corpse is a message meant for someone.

The message is received by Elena Vega, a sharp, by-the-book DEA agent who believes the murder is tied to a dangerous new smuggling pipeline. She sees Jake as a washed-up liability. He sees her as a reminder of everything he lost. But when a second body appears with the same chilling signature, they are forced into an uneasy alliance.

They soon discover the truth is more terrifying than they ever imagined. The killings are not random acts of cartel violence; they are a systematic purge. The hunter known as The Pelican is a ghost, a high-end cleaner eliminating anyone who could expose a conspiracy that reaches into the highest levels of a federal task force-a task force led by the charismatic and powerful Carson Pryce. Pryce's team isn't fighting the cartel; they're protecting it, facilitating a deadly exchange of drugs and weapons-grade technology in a shadowy deal code-named Cayo Sangre-Blood Key.

Branded as rogue agents and hunted by the very system they swore to protect, Jake and Elena have nowhere to run. Their only ally is a terrified migrant girl who holds the key to the conspiracy on a hidden data stick. Pursued through treacherous swamps and into the storm-wracked Gulf, their only chance to expose the truth is to assault a decommissioned oil platform where Pryce's treachery will reach its bloody climax.

But Pryce is waiting for them. The Pelican is waiting for them. And Jake Mercer is about to discover that the conspiracy he's unraveling is directly linked to the death of his partner-a murder designed to look like an accident.

The Forgotten Coast is a heart-pounding sun-soaked thriller perfect for fans of The Devil's Punchbowl and Bluebird, Bluebird. It's a story of redemption forged in fire, of a conspiracy as deep and dark as the Gulf itself, and of the fragile line between justice and vengeance.

Step into a world where the sun-drenched beaches hide blood-soaked secrets, and the only thing more dangerous than the killers lurking in the mangroves is the truth. The tide is turning. Don't miss the thriller everyone will be talking about.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0FSKPVC8J
• ISBN13: 9798266964921
• Release Date: September 2025
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 150 Pages
• Weight: 0.46 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"