Climb into the cab, settle onto the air-ride seat and crank the engine. The truck shudders and rocks as the diesel fires up with a clatter then a roar. Left hand on the wheel, right hand on the stick, you slip into gear, release the air brakes, ease up on the clutch pedal and feel that load behind as the rig surges forward.

The trouble with other stories about the long-haul trucking life is that they are either written by writers who have researched trucking but not experienced it, or are written by people who have trucked but are not seasoned writers. Overload is a novel written by Michael Day who has published numerous articles over the last twenty years. In his early career as a diesel mechanic he learned what makes the big trucks work. Then he climbed into the cab of an eighteen- wheeler and took to the interstate.

That makes Overload a story told by a seasoned professional who is as comfortable on the page as he was on the road. The book is packed with realism that will pick you up and carry you down the highway behind the wheel of one of America’s big rigs.