Trooper Down!: Life and Death on the Highway Patrol

It’s a trooper’s worst nightmare. What begins as a routine patrol suddenly turns violent when someone pulls a weapon. Moments later, the trooper is down―wounded or dead. Then, like a swarm of angry bees, every other trooper on the force mobilizes to catch the suspect. Whether they’re issuing a ticket for speeding “just a little” over the limit or conducting an all-out manhunt, the people who have chosen this perilous and demanding profession are rarely revealed as vividly or candidly as they are here. In Trooper Down! Marie Bartlett uses her gripping hell-for-leather style to paint a fascinating portrait of one of the nation’s most elite law-enforcement agencies. In interviews and anecdotes, troopers relate stories of narrow misses, breathtaking confrontations, strange and hilarious encounters with various “crazies,” and, most heartbreakingly, working the wrecks―aiding the injured and dying in highway accidents―while troopers’ wives and widows tell of the heart-wrenching realities trooper families face. Through this remarkable book, we not only comprehend the life of a trooper, we are unforgettably there.

Marie Bartlett was born in Melbourne, Australia, but came to this country as a young child and was raised in western North Carolina. As a freelance writer, she has published hundreds of articles in newspapers and magazines, and she has served as a correspondent for the Associated Press. She also writes crime fiction.