The far empty - J. Todd Scott

17 year-old Caleb Ross is adrift in the wake of the sudden disappearance of his mother a year ago, and is struggling to find his way out of the small Texas border town of Murfee. Chris Cherry is a newly minted Sheriff's Deputy, a high school football hero who's reluctantly returned to his hometown. When skeletal remains are discovered in the surrounding badlands, the two are inexorably drawn together as their efforts to uncover Murfee's darkest secrets lead them to the same terrifying suspect: Caleb's father and Chris's boss, the charismatic and feared Sheriff Ross.