Rigged Game

A billion-dollar land grab. A weaponized federal warrant. A town pushed to the breaking point. Ex-federal investigator turned private fixer Mercer Sample prefers to operate in the gray areas of his rain-slicked Pacific Northwest logging town. But when a corrupt county zoning board starts starving independent farmers off their land using fabricated environmental laws, Mercer recognizes the unmistakable shape of a massive corporate grift. The local squeeze is just the tip of a billion-dollar spear. Portland venture capitalist Cameron Bell needs a contiguous corridor of valley farmland for a massive green-energy data center, and he’s willing to buy the local government to steal it. When a young hacker uncovers the encrypted ledgers proving Bell's offshore bribes, the billionaire unleashes a ruthless private hit squad to bury the evidence. Worse, Bell tips off a relentless U.S. Marshal to the location of a fugitive mechanic hiding in Mercer's town, triggering a spectacular federal manhunt designed to act as a smokescreen for the corporate slaughter. Outgunned and cut off by a devastating Pacific storm, Mercer must assemble a desperate crew—a stubborn farmer, a hunted mechanic, and a stoic local contractor—to hold the line. As the mercenaries close in and the federal government kicks down doors, Mercer is forced to step out of the shadows and into the mud. He isn't just fighting a paper war anymore; he's fighting for survival. To save the valley, he’ll have to break a billionaire's empire. RIGGED GAME is a gritty modern western noir packed with razor-sharp dialogue, hardboiled crime, and relentless suspense. Perfect for fans of Elmore Leonard's snappy grifters, John D. MacDonald's cynical heroes, and the action-packed corporate conspiracies of Lee Child and C.J. Box. Keywords / Categories: Modern Western Thriller, Noir Crime Fiction, Corporate Conspiracy Thriller, Private Investigator Mystery, Pacific Northwest Suspense, Action & Adventure, Hardboiled Detective, Vigilante Justice.