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Material Type | Shelf Number | Shelf Location | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Book | FICTION ATKINS, ACE | Adult Fiction Collection | Searching... |
Summary
Summary
Fresh from ten years as a U.S. Army Ranger, Quinn Colson finds his hands full as the newly elected sheriff of Tibbehah County, Mississippi. An old buddy running a local gun shop may be in over his head when stolen army rifles start showing up in the hands of a Mexican drug gang. At the same time, an abused-child case leads Quinn and his tough-as-nails deputy, Lillie Virgil, deep into the heart of a bootleg baby racket and a trail of darkness and death. And when the two cases collide, Quinn and his allies are forced to realize that, though they may be home from the war, they are now in the fight of their lives.
Reviews: 3
Booklist Review
Most readers working their way through this novel are likely, at least once, to flip to the trumpeting blurbs on the jacket and wish they were reading that novel instead of this one. The one they're confronting has the ingredients for a surefire thriller: an ex-Ranger turned small-town Mississippi sheriff has to deal with both a cruel bootleg baby scam and an old friend who's stolen guns from the army and is trying to sell them to a drug cartel. But for over half the novel, nothing much goes on. Scenes build toward conflict but never get there. Instead, the characters sit around, smoking and drinking and saying shit getting it together, hauling it, talking it until it seems less like verisimilitude and more like what Freud called arrested development. The author gets his shit together around page 221, when the various narrative lines converge. But, again, a lassitude takes over, and the scene drifts away. Atkins has an audience of fans and has written several fine books, but this isn't one of them.--Crinklaw, Don Copyright 2010 Booklist
Publisher's Weekly Review
Edgar-finalist Atkins showcases his versatility in his exciting, thoughtful second thriller starring ex-Ranger-turned-lawman Quinn Colson (after 2011's The Ranger). Colson, who survived tours of duty in both Iraq and Afghanistan, has only recently become sheriff in Tibbehah County, Miss., where graft is personified by Johnny Stagg, president of the board of county supervisors. Stagg, who was Colson's opponent in a special election to fill the vacant sheriff's position, is now determined to make life difficult for his adversary. Things are challenging enough without this personal animus. A battered child brought into the local trauma center leads the authorities to a horrific baby farm, and Donnie Varner, an old friend of Colson's, has gotten mixed up with some very bad and very violent people. Atkins manages to sell the notion of a contemporary laconic lead battling evil that could come straight out of a Gary Cooper western. Author tour. Agent: Esther Newberg, ICM. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Library Journal Review
Introduced in The Ranger, former U.S. Army Ranger Quinn Colson is now the newly elected sheriff of his home county, Tibbehah, MS. As Quinn adjusts to the job, with the help of Deputy Lillie Virgil, two major cases come to his attention: one concerns a woman suspected of trafficking in children; the centers on a Mexican cartel seeking to buy guns from a local supplier. While Quinn pursues leads in the black-market baby case, the Feds move on the gunrunner and demand assistance from the local sheriff's office, causing conflict and near bungling of both investigations. As a fledgling lawman, Quinn is a little rough around the edges, but his character is tempered by his deputy's professionalism and experience. Flashbacks to Quinn's childhood and glimpses into his personal life reveal both strengths and flaws, making him even more sympathetic to the reader. Verdict Atkins seems to have hit his stride with this splendid sequel to the Edgar Award-nominated The Ranger. [See Prepub Alert, 12/5/11; Atkins was tapped by Robert B. Parker's estate to write the Spenser novels, and his first, Robert B. Parker's Lullaby, publishes this month (see Xpress Reviews, 5/11/12).-Ed.]-Thomas L. Kilpatrick, formerly with Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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