Up From Hell

Joan Moran

Apr 2026 · Next Chapter

About this ebook

Growing up in Las Vegas, Neil Dixon's future looked bleak. The son of a drug-addicted mother, he didn't have a lot of options until a police officer, Sergeant Finch, pulled him from danger and sent him to a new life in Texas.

Now, years later, Neil has become the police officer he always wanted to be—steady, principled, and unafraid to stand alone. But Jarrell, Texas, is not the clean slate he hoped for. Corruption in the department is rampant, and traffickers operate across the border.

When Neil’s mother dies, he returns to Las Vegas and meets the father he’s never known. He gets pulled into a deadly game with his father that stretches from Vegas to the police department in Jarrell, to cartel-scarred border towns. To survive, he must decide what kind of man he truly is - and how far he’s willing to go to stop the people who profit from chaos.

The first book in Joan Moran's series of crime thrillers, UP FROM HELL, is a gripping, character-driven novel about the weight of the past and the cost of justice.

Ratings and reviews

Up From Hell by Joan Moran is a crime thriller that is also the first book in the Echoes of the Past: Crimes in Central Texas series. There are layers to this story; it contains the themes of small town corruption, deep family secrets, addiction, and emotional trauma. Neil Dixon is digging into his past, which includes the mystery of his father, while he is dealing with corruption in Central Texas. I feel that Moran did a fantastic job in balancing the emotional intensity and the crime aspect.

The author Joan Moran provides an excellent, diverse cast of characters. Ms. Moran weaves a giant spider web connecting drug traffickers in Mexico supplying Texas distributors from Texas border towns to Jarrell. Young Officer Neil Dixon builds a trusted team of friends to fight drug traffickers and corruption in law enforcement. Well done, Joan Moran! But who is the “spider” at the center of this web of drug traffickers? I smell a sequel in the Texas air.