The Bus to Beulah A Novel By E.C. Hanes
On Sale May 10, 2022 Preorder Amazon
Paperback | $16.95 | ISBN-13: 978-1684631292
“Hanes’ prose is tight, forthright, and no-nonsense as he illuminates the lives of multiple
characters willing to risk everything for a chance at survival.” –Kirkus Reviews
On her way to a new job in America, Maria Puente accidentally discovers a human trafficking ring.
Fearing exposure, the American company that manages the operation with the help of their Mexican
partners kidnaps Maria.
Maria’s disappearance triggers a desperate search, by her family and local law enforcement, to find her
before the kidnappers can permanently dispose of her. As the investigation unfolds, long-time Hogg
County high sheriff Will Moser confronts Albert Waters, a powerful businessman who Will suspects
knows about Maria’s disappearance, but Albert and his Mexican cartel partners prove to be brick walls.
At the urging of his wife, Lana, Will calls on Elijah Kahn, a man he got to know while serving in Vietnam
who now runs one of the largest international security firms in the world. The idea of working with men
who are rightly known as mercenaries troubles Will, but he knows he’ll never find Maria without Elijah’s
help and when Lana reminds Will of the debt they owe to Tomas Delgado, Maria’s uncle, his hesitation
evaporates.
Organized in an hour-by-hour structure, The Bus to Beulah is a taut thriller that culminates in a massive,
heart-pounding chase to save Maria before she disappears forever.
Overview:
• Discusses the timely and controversial topic of immigration, which can cause fear and suspicion.
• Addresses the important issue of human trafficking, which often accompanies immigrant labor.
• Features strong female characters and role models.
The Bus to Beulah
A Novel
By E.C. Hanes
On Sale May 10, 2022
Paperback | $16.95 | ISBN-13: 978-1684631292
buy on Amazon
Advance Praise:
“Bus to Beulah takes us on a fast and furious ride through some of America's toughest territory straight
into border problems, trafficking, and drug cartels and features a Dickensian cast of characters swirling
around the kidnapped Maria through eleven tense days. Topical, timely, terrifying. I read it one sitting.”
- Lee Smith, best-selling author and winner of the American Academy of Arts and Letters award for
fiction, the O’Henry Award, and Mercer University’s Sidney Lanier Prize for Southern Literature
“In The Bus to Beulah, Redge Hanes skillfully zeroes in on what happens when our byzantine
immigration laws, the powerful farmers’ lobby. and local politics collide in bucolic North Carolina. In Billy
Bowater, Hanes explored his state’s political jungle. Here, a local sheriff investigates the disappearance
of a young woman and finds exploitative conditions that allow a human and drug trafficking network to
set up shop.”
- Howell Raines, former executive editor of The New York Times
Eldridge C. Hanes — Redge to his friends, was born in Winston-Salem,
North Carolina, and graduated from Woodberry Forest School in Orange,
Virginia, and then from Duke University in 1967 with a BA in Economics.
He graduated from the Army Combat Engineering Officer Candidate
School at Fort Belvoir in June of 1968 and served three years of active
duty, the last of which was in the Republic of Vietnam and earned him
the Bronze Star. After the army, Redge worked seven years for Hanes
Corporation and then left to start Xpres Corporation, which eventually
became The Russ Companies, for whom Redge served as chairman for
three years before retiring in 2011. In addition to his business interests,
he has served on a number of boards in the education, environmental
and arts fields. Redge has published two novels, Billy Bowater and Justice
by Another Name, in addition to contributing essays and articles to
various publications. His essay “Helen of Marion” appeared in the recent
UNC Press anthology, Mothers and Strangers: Essays on Motherhood from the New South. Redge has
been married for fifty years to Jane Grenley Hanes. They have a son, Philip, and a daughter, Lara, and
are grandparents of five lively and beautiful grandchildren.
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