Shooting Back, a term coined by her father before his murder, represents Erin O'Malley's inability to stand up for herself. The novel opens with Erin O'Malley wanting to be invisible and running to her cabin in the woods near Tangiers, Pa.

Instead of peacefulness, the mystery of her father's murder deepens as Erin is kidnapped, double crossed, and left as a scapegoat in a transaction involving marijuana, rifles, Outlaw bikers, racists and computer fraud. In one of Shooting Back's many plot twists, Erin discovers the vicious individual orchestrating her misery has been dead for four years.

With the help of local librarian and full-time cougar, Miss Winthrop, Erin tracks down the impostor and discovers he is an intelligent, highly functioning psychopath working for the Russkaya Mafiya in Seattle. She steals a laptop with enough information to bring down corrupt politicians at all levels of government. Finally, in a Cascade Mountain battle of deceit and brutality, Erin must find the courage to transform herself. She discovers the ability to shoot back comes when she has nothing left to lose.