Inside the Opening of HAMMER: Violence, Power, and the Birth of a Reckoning
The first three chapters of HAMMER are designed to do one thing above all else: pull the reader into a world where power is absolute, violence is deliberate, and consequences are unavoidable. From the opening pages, the novel establishes that this is not just a story about a retired fighter—it’s about corruption, loss, and what happens when a man who has learned to control violence is forced to unleash it again.
Prologue: A Message Written in Blood
The novel opens under cover of darkness in West Texas, where two professional killers arrive with chilling precision. Their mission is clear, their methods meticulous, and their mindset disturbingly calm. What unfolds at Terlingua River Ranch is not simply murder—it is execution, staged with symbolic cruelty meant to send a message.
Congressman Louis Garrett and his wife, Dottie, are celebrating forty years of marriage when their lives are violently ended. The brutality of the act—especially the calculated mutilation—immediately signals that this crime is about more than silencing a political figure. It’s about intimidation, power, and control.
The prologue sets the emotional and moral stakes of the novel. This is a world where those who believe themselves untouchable discover how wrong they are—and where innocence offers no protection.
Chapter One: The Aftermath and the Lie
Chapter One shifts perspective to the uneasy morning after. The ranch wakes up, unaware of the horror waiting to be discovered. Here, the story introduces Richard Cavness, the ranch manager—a man whose careless demeanor masks deeper complicity.
Richard knows the truth before anyone else does. He played a role in what happened, and now he must perform the hardest task of all: pretending to be shocked by the carnage he helped enable. His internal tension adds another layer to the story, reinforcing a key theme of HAMMER: evil doesn’t always wear a mask—it often blends in.
The discovery of the bodies transforms the ranch from a luxury retreat into a crime scene, and the ripple effects begin immediately. This chapter grounds the reader in the reality of the crime and introduces the idea that justice may not come easily—or cleanly.
Chapter Two: Law, Order, and Limits
With Chapter Two, the lens widens. Local Sheriff Danny Hinojosa responds to the scene, quickly realizing that this is far beyond a routine homicide. The involvement of federal authorities underscores the gravity of the crime and hints at powerful forces operating behind the scenes.
The investigators recognize the execution-style killing and ritualized mutilation for what it is: a warning. Whether cartel-related or something even darker, the message is unmistakable—someone wanted this murder to be seen and remembered.
This chapter explores the limits of law enforcement when faced with political power, organized violence, and secrecy. It also plants an ominous question: if a sitting U.S. congressman can be murdered this way, who is truly safe?
Chapter Three: Enter Jack “Hammer” Garrett
Only after the world has been shattered does HAMMER introduce its central character.
Jack Garrett—former UFC light heavyweight champion—has just walked away from the only life he’s ever known. He is a husband, a father, and a rancher now, trying to redefine himself after years of controlled violence inside the cage. Chapter Three is quieter, more introspective, but no less powerful.
Through Jack’s reflections on his final fight and his transition out of professional combat, readers see a man who understands discipline, restraint, and the cost of violence better than most. He believes that chapter of his life is closed.
He is wrong.
The juxtaposition is deliberate: while shadowy forces commit unspeakable acts, Jack is trying to build a peaceful future. The reader knows what Jack does not—that his world is about to collide with the brutality introduced in the opening chapters.
Setting the Tone for What’s to Come
The first three chapters of HAMMER establish the novel’s core themes:
Power and corruption at the highest levels
Violence as a language, used to control and intimidate
The cost of justice, both personal and moral
A reluctant warrior, forced back into the fight
By the end of Chapter Three, the fuse has been lit. The reader understands what has been taken, who is responsible, and why only one man—who wanted nothing more than peace—may be capable of answering the violence that has been unleashed.
This is only the beginning.
