STEP INTO LUKE AND CORY’S WORLD
Explore the Mountain
The river. The cabin. The shade of an old walnut tree.
A few glimpses of the places that hold this story.
THE STORY IN MOTION
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1 minute 39 seconds
Some friendships change the way you see the world.
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In the Kentucky mountains, Luke Daniels and Cory Rupert can make an adventure out of almost anything. And disagree about whose idea it was afterward.
There are trails to explore, bad ideas to try, and a friend who knows how to make Luke laugh. For Luke, staying a little longer also means putting off going home.
But the hills hold things he cannot explain. A glimpse of an unfamiliar boy on the river rocks. A question even Cory can't answer.
Then escaped prisoners take Luke's stepfather hostage. Frank is the man Luke fears most. And Luke wants him brought home alive.
As floodwater rises and roads close, the danger reaches beyond the mountain trails and into the lives of the families below. Helping someone else can mean putting yourself at risk. And Luke must decide whom he can trust when it matters most.
The Weight of a Second. By Troy E. Kirk. Some friendships change the way you see the world.
BEYOND THE PAGES
Explore the real Kentucky
Rivers beneath wooded cliffs. Homes tucked between the hills. Communities with deep roots in coal country.
These photographs offer a glimpse of southeastern Kentucky. Crockett and the novel’s local geography are fictional; the places shown here are identified by their real names.
Along the Cumberland River
Rock walls and wooded banks at Cumberland Falls State Park. This is the Cumberland River, a real Kentucky landscape—not the novel’s Red Bird crossing.
Chris Light · 2008 · Source · CC BY-SA 4.0
The view from Pine Mountain
Wooded ridges, a winding highway, and homes in the valley below, photographed from Pine Mountain State Resort Park.
J654567 · 2009; color and brightness enhanced by Vanished user 7782930114 · Source · CC BY-SA 3.0
A street in Lynch
Front porches and homes along First Street in Lynch, Harlan County. A glimpse of everyday life among the hills.
Nyttend · 2014 · Source · Public domain
Coal country, beyond the mine
A company store in Lynch, photographed in 1946. Coal shaped more than the working day: it helped shape the stores, schools, and communities where mining families lived. The Kentucky Coal Museum in nearby Benham explores that history.
Russell Lee · 1946 · National Archives, NAID 541403 · Source · Public domain (U.S. government work)
Actual photographs, resized for this page. Select an image for a larger view. Credits and reuse terms are linked beneath each photograph.
FROM TROY’S NOTEBOOK
Stories Behind the Story
Real adventures and research behind the novel.
IDAHO · A PERSONAL ACCOUNT
A Close Call on the Salmon River
A Scout rafting trip, a rapid we underestimated, and an unexpected cabin that later found its way into the novel.
Read the story
KENTUCKY · PERSONAL PHOTOGRAPHS
Researching the Mountain
The Red Bird River and other places I photographed while researching the book.
View the photographs