Author draws from his life for book
Alaskan bush life – in one of the world’s harshest environments, along with glaciers, grizzlies, blizzards, plane crashes and crazed-killers – makes Alaskan Trooper Jack Blake’s job in the last frontier very exciting.
Trooper Blake, the hero of “Alaska Justice,” comes alive as a character with wisdom, compassion, excitement and gentle humor. Author Mike Kincaid weaves the story of Blake’s life with engrossing action, exciting adventure and sweet romance.
“Trooper Blake’s job is to serve and protect the citizens in one of the harshest environments in the world,” says Kincaid, who survived a challenging career with the Alaska Department of Public Safety.
“Alaska Justice” is based on true cases from Kincaid’s own life and inspired by actual events. Kincaid was introduced to flying by Alaskan bush pilot Don Sheldon; worked on the Valdez pipeline; was a state trooper and game warden; and was part of the investigation of a double murder case – threads that weave in and out the book’s many chapters.
“Jack Blake is like a ‘Forrest Gump,’ ” Kincaid says. “Things just keep happening to him.”
As the story begins a young Blake witnesses a Dallas schoolyard murder, and prevents a second murder by the same boy-killer. The crime, followed by assaults on him during the school semester to discourage his testimony, was Blake’s introduction to justice.
His next taste of justice began with a parade in which a president was assassinated. Justice is an appropriate theme, as the reader follows Blake’s adventures in the rugged mountains of Idaho where he learns to ride horses, shoot guns, fly, perform marital arts and how to become a man from his Uncle J.D.
J.D. also taught him to avoid the “Four Poisons of the Mind,” – fear, confusion, hesitation and surprise. This advice comes in handy as Trooper Blake struggles for his life when confronted by the boy-killer later in the book.
Blake’s next adventure takes place in the middle of the Vietnam war, where he landed after being recruited to fly for Air America.