At age eighteen, Dale Criss entered the gates of Parchman Prison, convicted of killing his high school sweetheart. Twenty-five years later, he returns home, hated, feared, and determined to set the record straight. Standing in his way is Sheriff Trap Malone, a no-nonsense lawman who thinks the line between right and wrong is clearly drawn … until he takes off his blinders. Carl Purdon lives in Pontotoc, Mississippi with his wife and two of their four children. Born in 1964, he knew by age five he would write novels someday. He prepared himself by reading a wide variety of books, and by falling down a few times. His passion is observing people. His goal is to create characters so real his readers will feel they know them by the end of the book. In February of 2012, he released his debut novel, The Night Train, then followed it up with his second novel, Norton Road in 2013. In 2014, he released Blinders. His fourth novel, Red Eyes, a sequel to The Night Train, was released in 2015. Norton Road was selected as a Notable Indie by Shelf Unbound magazine as part of their 2014 Best Indie Book Awards. Carl writes in the contemporary fiction genre, with emphasis on true-to-life drama and suspense. During an introduction at a reading roundtable in 2014, Carl's writing style was described as a mixture of Mark Twain and Merle Haggard, a compliment he continuously strives to live up to.