Badlands

Twelve-year-old Kyle Westergaard lives with his mother in a small North Dakota town that has recently become a boom town with the discovery of oil. But Kyle has dreams and deeper thoughts than anyone can imagine. He wants to get out of town, take care of his mother, and give them a better life. When he witnesses a car accident and a mysterious bundle flies from the car, he thinks his fortunes might have changed. The bundle is filled with money and packets of white powder. His mother's boyfriend, T-lock, tells him it is worth thousands. Kyle shouldn't tell anyone. He, T-lock, will handle it and help him help his mother. But Kyle has to trust T-lock. Cassie Dewell is the new deputy sheriff in town. In this newly rich town, the police need all the help they can get. With oil comes money. With money comes drugs. With drugs comes gangs…and even more ruthless people. When bodies start turning up, Cassie begins to realize that she may be in over her head. When she becomes the target of someone who is leaving body parts where she is most likely to find them, she has to make some hard choices. As she finds herself on a collision course with a murderous enemy, she finds that help might come in the most unlikely form and that those with the least to lose have the most to offer… Badlands is a masterpiece of suspense, detailing family dynamics and small-town politics in a time and place like no other: the Bakken Oil fields. The Badlands.