Scott Free

"If ever there was a one‑sitting read, Scott Free is it. Author Gilstrap has done it again: Not only has he dished up a gut‑grabbing, pure‑adrenaline rush of a thriller, but he's snagged our hearts too with a gripping story of a father‑son relationship that's every bit as compelling as the breathtaking scenes and the wry, perceptive observations about small‑town life."

Synopsis
Sherry Carrigan O'Toole can't seem to make the prescriptions she offers in her bestselling self-help books apply to her own life. Six years after her marriage to Brandon disintegrated and he won custody of their son, Scott, there's no room in their lives for her. Hoping to win back the teenager's heart, Sherry arranges a week's skiing at the plush SkyTop Village resort. But Scott has other plans. Determined to evade his mother's clutches, he jumps at the chance to join a foolhardy adventure to fly a Cessna through a nighttime storm to Salt Lake City for a Metallica concert. After the plane crashes, Scott is lost and alone in the frozen wilderness, miles from anywhere people would search for him.  As Brandon and Sherry revisit the old battles that tore them apart, they have to fight a bureaucracy that wants to abandon the search even as their son struggles to survive impossible odds.  Barely alive, Scott finally finds a cabin for shelter.  He thinks  his troubles are over. When he discovers the truth about the man who lives there, however, it's clear that his terror has barely begun.

Even Steven

Synopsis
Bobby and Susan Martin want nothing more than to have a child of their own, the blessing that would make their marriage whole. Never did they dream that a restorative camping trip would change their lives forever—when a tiny, filthy, freezing young boy dashes out of the woods near their campsite. The boy's violent kidnappers quickly come for him—and in a chaotic, explosive moment, the Martins appear to be drawn into an unthinkable crime: the brutal murder of a police officer. Now Bobby, Susan, and the eerily quiet young boy must stay one step ahead of a vicious crime ring, and are unsure whether they can trust the police—or if they are responsible for the death of one of their brethren. As the couple desperately plunges into the heart of danger to save themselves and the boy, deep emotions about their failed pregnancies come to the surface. Even if Bobby and Susan figure a way out of their spiraling circumstances, will they be able to surrender this child who has come into their lives and, in his own way, filled a painful chasm in their marriage? A galvanizing story of kidnapping, murder, mystery and love, a page-turner that builds to a heart-stopping climax, John Gilstrap's gripping new novel enhances his reputation as one of the most ingenious and innovative of contemporary thriller writers.

At All Costs

"Readers who have begun to wonder whether there are any new suspense plots left will rejoice at the publication of this exciting and very plausible thriller by the author of Nathan's Run...Thrillers don't get much better than this." -- Booklist

Meet Jake and Carolyn Brighton, in all respects a typical couple in small-town America. No one would ever think that they occupy the top two slots on the FBI's most-wanted list. Fourteen years ago their last name was Donovan, and according to their accusers, they slaughtered sixteen of their friends and touched off an eco-disaster of unprecedented proportions. The Feds want them. Badly. So badly that the FBI's chief will stop at nothing to bring them to justice. When a freak false arrest rousts the Donovans from their hiding place, the chase is on. But this time, after all the years underground, Jake and Carolyn are not sure they have the stamina to renew their flight. Even more poignantly, they know they don't have the heart to condemn their 13-year-old son, Travis -- who has no idea that his parents are two of the most wanted fugitives in the country -- to a life on the run. To achieve salvation, not just for themselves but for him, the couple must attempt the insane: elude a massive man hunt and revisit the origins of their nightmare -- a toxic hell that just may contain the evidence that will set them free.

Nathan's Run

"A yarn that demands to be read in one sitting...Brilliantly calculated...Gilstrap mixes sentiment and suspense with a wizard's touch." -- Publisher's Weekly

Nathan's Run will touch the heart of anyone who's ever reached out for a helping hand, battled against impossible odds, or searched for a sign that they, too, matter. Beginning with a savage killing at a suburban Virginia juvenile detention center, Nathan's Run hurtles 12-year-old Nathan Bailey through a terrifying gauntlet. Accused of murder and branded a cop killer, Nathan becomes the target of a nationwide manhunt even as a vicious hit man is closing in on him. Orphaned and alone, Nathan has nowhere to turn for help. To stay alive he can count only on himself: on his agility, natural cleverness and honesty. Ironically, the latter proves a formidable weapon as the boy endears himself to a national radios talk show host and, along the way, pleads his case to a rapt nation. Still, "justice" will not be denied, and as an army of police and a dogged contract killer draw closer, Nathan is tested to the very limits of his endurance.