#BookReview The Shameless by Ace Atkins @FreshFiction @aceatkins @PutnamBooks

The Shameless by Ace Atkins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Buried secrets, dirty lies, and unbridled greed and ambition raise the stakes down South in the lauded crime series from New York Times bestselling author Ace Atkins.

Twenty years ago, Brandon Taylor was thought to be just another teen boy who ended his life too soon. That’s what almost everyone in Tibbehah County, Mississippi, said after his body and hunting rifle were found in the Big Woods. Now two New York-based reporters show up asking Sheriff Quinn Colson questions about the Taylor case. What happened to the evidence? Where are the missing files? Who really killed Brandon?

Quinn wants to help. After all, his wife Maggie was a close friend of Brandon Taylor. But Quinn was just a kid himself in 1997, and these days he’s got more on his plate than twenty-year-old suspicious death. He’s trying to shut down the criminal syndicate that’s had a stranglehold on Tibbehah for years, trafficking drugs, stolen goods, and young women through the MidSouth. Truck stop madam Fannie Hathcock runs most of that action, and has her eyes on taking over the whole show. And then there’s Senator Jimmy Vardaman, who’s cut out the old political establishment riding the Syndicate’s money and power—plus a hefty helping of racism and ignorance—straight to the governor’s office. If he manages to get elected, the Syndicate will be untouchable. Tibbehah will be lawless.

Quinn’s been fighting evil and corruption since he was a kid, at home or as a U.S. Army Ranger in Afghanistan and Iraq. This time, evil may win out.

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Two New York reporters are in Tibbehah Country, Mississippi investigating a cold case. Twenty years ago a young man, Brandon Taylor, killed himself in the Big Woods. At least that is the official explanation. What really happened is hard to know, since there were no witnesses and all the official documents are missing. Now they are asking around, trying to find out the truth. Sheriff Quinn Colson is one that is asking questions, both because of his role as a sheriff and because of his connection to Brandon, or rather his wife. Maggie was friends with Brandon and even dated him. But the truth is hard to find out, especially if there are those that try to discredit Quinn by pointing a finger at him...

READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW OVER AT FRESH FICTION!

#BookReview The Broken Places by Ace Atkins @aceatkins ‏@PutnamBooks

The Broken Places by Ace Atkins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A year after becoming sheriff, Quinn Colson is faced with the release of an infamous murderer from prison. Jamey Dixon comes back to Jericho preaching redemption, and some believe him; but for the victim’s family, the only thought is revenge.

Another group who doesn’t believe him—the men in prison from Dixon’s last job, an armored car robbery. They’re sure he’s gone back to grab the hidden money, so they do the only thing they can: break out and head straight to Jericho themselves.

Colson and his deputy, Lillie, know they’ve got their work cut out for them. But they don’t count on one more unwelcome visitor: a tornado that causes havoc just as events come to a head. Communications are down, the roads are impassable—and the rule of law is just about to snap.

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As usual, when it comes to me did I start off this series by reading (or listening in this case) not from the start. Instead, I started with book five, The Redeemers. I liked so much that I went back and listen to this book three and four and now I just wait for the right moment to reading book one and two. Yeah, why read the books in order when you can have this much fun? Anyway, what I want to say is that the books can be read as stand-alone, sure reading from the beginning straight through will definitely be a lot easier if you want to keep track of all the characters that are recurring in the books.

In this book must Quinn deal with a problem close to him. His sister is dating, Jamey Dixon, an ex-convict. A man convicted of killing his girlfriend, however, this said man has now found God and have started a new life. If only Quinn could believe that and if only then men that have just escaped from prison isn't thinking that Jamey Dixon may have cheated them out of the money they went to prison for. Then, there is the tornado heading towards Jericho...

As with the rest of the books, I have read is the story captivating and I just love how the book is non-stop action from the beginning until the end with killers, robbers, and tornadoes all coming to Jericho. It's a great book in a great series and if you are a Longmire fan, then you need to read this series!

#BookReview The Forsaken by Ace Atkins @aceatkins ‏@PutnamBooks

The Forsaken by Ace Atkins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thirty-six years ago, a nameless black man wandered into Jericho, Mississippi, with nothing but the clothes on his back and a pair of paratrooper boots. Less than two days later, he was accused of rape and murder, hunted down by a self-appointed posse, and lynched.

Now evidence has surfaced of his innocence, and county sheriff Quinn Colson sets out not only to identify the stranger’s remains, but to charge those responsible for the lynching. As he starts to uncover old lies and dirty secrets, though, he runs up against fierce opposition from those with the most to lose—and they can play dirty themselves.

Soon Colson will find himself accused of terrible crimes, and the worst part is, the accusations just might stick. As the two investigations come to a head, it is anybody’s guess who will prevail—or even come out of it alive.

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I'm the kind of person that read books way out of order. I started with book five, then I got to book three and then I read book four (this one). And that is all the audiobooks that I had so I ordered book one and two and now I'm just waiting for some time over to read them. On the plus side, listening to the audio version of this book was way easier than book five because now I know who is who. The worst problem listening to a couple of books in a series in a row is actually remembering what happened in each of the books.

Sheriff Quinn Colson is contacted by a woman that survived a brutal rape, but had to watch her best friend get killed. Now she wants Quinn to look into the case again because she knows that the wrong man was lynched for the crime. This is not easy said and done, there are deep buried secrets and many people are not happy about this reopening of a closed case.

As I stated in my review for book five is this series perfect if you have read all the Longmire books and looking for something similar. Quinn may not be the new Walt Longmire, but he's a very interesting character, being an ex-soldier that took over the sheriff job after his uncle. His deputy Lillie Virgil is just as tough and cool as Vic from the Longmire series. Together are they a fabulous team. As for the case, it will get very personal for Quinn when he learns that someone in his family may have been there when the man got lynched...

#BookReview The Redeemers by Ace Atkins @aceatkins ‏@PutnamBooks

The Redeemers by Ace Atkins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The electrifying new novel in New York Times–bestselling author Ace Atkins’s acclaimed series about the real Deep South.

He is only in his early thirties, but now Quinn Colson is jobless—voted out of office as sheriff of Tibbehah County, Mississippi, thanks to the machinations of county kingpin Johnny Stagg. He has offers, in bigger and better places, but before he goes, he’s got one more job to do—bring down Stagg’s criminal operations for good.

At least that’s the plan. But in the middle of the long, hot summer, a trio of criminals stage a bold, wall-smashing break-in at the home of a local lumber mill owner, making off with a million dollars in cash from his safe, which is curious, because the mill owner is wealthy—but not that wealthy. None of this has anything to do with Colson, but during the investigation, two men are killed, one of them the new sheriff. His friend, acting sheriff Lillie Virgil, and a dangerous former flame, Anna Lee Stevens, both ask him to step in, and reluctantly he does, only to discover that that safe contained more than just money—it held secrets.

Secrets that could either save Colson—or destroy him once and for all.

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I've found a series to fill the void left after reading all Longmire books by Craig Johnson. Now, starting with book five in a series is perhaps not the smartest thing to do, but it's my thing and, despite some struggle, in the beginning, to get the hang on the characters is this a book that I felt was just right up my alley. From the fabulous team of ex-sheriff Quinn Colson and deputy sheriff Lillie Virgil to the hapless criminals that are hired by a disgruntled man to break into a safe. Its action, it's humor and it's definitely captivating to read, or in my case listen to since I partly read, but mostly listened to the audiobook. The story is fabulous, especially the break-in part. Man, this robbery plan is doomed from the start.

The Redeemers is a fabulous thriller. I had a blast reading/listening to this book. The storyline is both funny and thrilling and I instantly liked both Quinn and Lillie. This is the kind of book that works reading as a stand-alone after one has figured out who is who. However, I bet it's even better to read this series from the beginning. What I did after finishing this book was listening to book three and four that were available as audiobooks and when they were done did I order the two first books in the series. Yup, you can say that I was hooked! So, now I'm waiting for my books to arrive!

If you are a Longmire fan, then I definitely recommend this series to read.

I want to thank G.P. Putnam's Sons for providing me with a free copy through Edelweiss for an honest review!

Wishlist November: Crime

This month I thought I would pick 5 titles that are the first in series that I want to read. To be honest, should I perhaps focus on the series that I already reading, but what the heck, these ones looks good! 

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The Ritual Bath (Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus #1) by Faye Kellerman

Detective Peter Decker of the LAPD is stunned when he gets the report.Someone has shattered the sanctuary of a remote yeshiva community in the California hills with an unimaginable crime. One of the women was brutally raped as she returned from the mikvah, the bathhouse where the cleansing ritual is performed.

The crime was called in by Rina Lazarus, and Decker is relieved to discover that she is a calm and intelligent witness. She is also the only one in the sheltered community willing to speak of this unspeakable violation. As Rina tries to steer Decker through the maze of religious laws, the two grow closer. But before they get to the bottom of the horrendous crime, revelations come to light that are so shocking that they threaten to come between the hard-nosed cop and the deeply religious woman with whom he has become irrevocably linked.

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A Share in Death (Duncan Kincaid & Gemma James #1) by Deborah Crombie 

A week's holiday in a luxurious Yorkshire time-share is just what Scotland Yard's Superintendent Duncan Kincaid needs. But the discovery of a body floating in the whirlpool bath ends Kincaid's vacation before it's begun. One of his new acquaintances at Followdale House is dead; another is a killer. Despite a distinct lack of cooperation from the local constabulary, Kincaid's keen sense of duty won't allow him to ignore the heinous crime, impelling him to send for his enthusiastic young assistant, Sergeant Gemma James. But the stakes are raised dramatically when a second murder occurs, and Kincaid and James find themselves in a determined hunt for a fiendish felon who enjoys homicide a bit too much

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Ashes to Ashes (Kovac and Liska #1) by Tami Hoag

He performs his profane ceremony in a wooded Minneapolis park, anointing his victims, then setting the bodies ablaze. He has already claimed three lives, and he won’t stop there. Only this time there is a witness. But she isn’t talking.

Enter Kate Conlan, former FBI agent turned victim/witness advocate. Not even she can tell if the reluctant witness is a potential victim or something more troubling still. Her superiors are interested only because the latest victim may be the daughter of Peter Bondurant, an enigmatic billionaire. When Peter pulls strings, Special Agent John Quinn gets assigned to the case. But the FBI’s ace profiler of serial killers is the last person Kate wants to work with, not with their troubled history. Now she faces the most difficult role of her career—and her life. For she’s the only woman who has what it takes to stop the killer . . . and the one woman he wants next

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The Ranger (Quinn Colson #1) by Ace Atkins

Northeast Mississippi, hill country, rugged and notorious for outlaws since the Civil War, where killings are as commonplace as in the Old West. To Quinn Colson, it's home -- but not the home he left when he went to Afghanistan.

Now an Army Ranger, he returns to a place overrun by corruption, and finds his uncle, the county sheriff, dead -- a suicide, he's told, but others whisper murder. In the days that follow, it will be up to Colson to discover the truth, not only about his uncle, but about his family, his friends, his town, and not least about himself. And once the truth is discovered, there is no turning back.

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In Bitter Chill (Inspector Francis Sadler #1) by Sarah Ward

In 1978, a small town in Derbyshire, England is traumatised by the kidnapping of two young schoolgirls. One girl, Rachel, is later found unharmed but unable to remember anything except that her abductor was a woman.

Over thirty years later the mother of the still missing Sophie commits suicide. Superintendent Llewellyn, who was a young constable on the 1978 case, asks DI Francis Sadler and DC Connie Childs to look again at the kidnapping to see if modern police methods can discover something that the original team missed. However, Sadler is convinced that a more recent event triggered Yvonne Jenkins’s suicide.

Rachel, with the help of her formidable mother and grandmother, recovered from the kidnapping and has become a family genealogist. She remembers nothing of the abduction and is concerned that, after Yvonne Jenkins’s suicide, the national media will be pursuing her for a story once more. Days later, the discovery of one of her former teachers’ strangled body suggested a chain of events is being unleashed.

Rachel and the police must unpick the clues to discover what really happened all those years ago. But in doing so, they discover that the darkest secrets can be the ones closest to you.

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Colleen @ A Literary Vacation  - Coming Soon

Heather @ The Maiden’s Court

Holly @ 2 Kids and Tired - Coming Soon

Erin @ Flashlight Commentary