Hard Town
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4.4 • 5 Ratings
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
When a plea for help sends a retired Detroit cop to the small desert town of Fenton, Arizona, he finds himself uncovering secrets that want to stay hidden and questioning his own moral compass in this "gripping, fiercely propulsive, and vividly written" thriller (Meg Gardiner).
After surviving a deadly prison break, ex-Detroit cop Kurt Argento is ready for some quiet. Still working through his grief over the passing of his wife, Argento finds himself house-sitting for a friend with his loyal companion, Hudson, a Chow Chow-Shepard mix. It's a simple life, picking up odd jobs here and there, but it's one that Argento is content to live. Then Kristin Reed shows up with her young son, Ethan, and begs Argento to help find her missing husband.
Argento tells her he'd just be in the way. He's no investigator, not anymore. He's a handyman who fixes fences. But he's not one to ignore his gut feeling when something is wrong. After Kristin and her son disappear as well, Argento starts to notice that Fenton, Arizona is more than meets the eye. First there's the large, overly equipped public safety team complete with specialized tactics and sophisticated weaponry. Then there's the unusual financial boosting of failing small businesses by the U.S. government. And finally, there's a man with no name who seems to have an unprecedented control over the town. Argento finds himself unraveling not just the truth behind the disappearance of a family, but a conspiracy that's taken a whole town to cover up.
But Fenton is going to push him further than he’s ever had to go. And along the way, he may just lose a part of himself. Because justice isn't as black and white as Argento would like to believe.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
A favour to a stranger turns into a deadly game of cat-and-mouse for retired cop Kurt Argento in this gritty mystery. While housesitting for a friend, Argento is approached by a woman and her son to help them find her husband, who disappeared after visiting an old buddy near the strangely quiet American town of Fenton, Arizona. What Argento discovers has massive national-security repercussions, and he must turn to some dangerous players for an unlikely allyship in order to unravel this puzzle. Adam Plantinga’s second Argento book is a breathless page-turner with a compelling visual narrative—we could feel the hot sun in the desert alongside the heart-pounding plot twists.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Plantinga's white-knuckle sequel to The Ascent, retired Detroit cop Kurt Argento gets embroiled in a deadly skirmish in a small Arizona town. The recently widowed Kurt and his dog, Hudson, are house-sitting for an old SWAT buddy in the Southwest. When anxious stranger Kristin Reed approaches Kurt with her two-year-old son and asks for his help locating her missing husband, the ex-cop feels compelled to help. Strangely, however, Kristin fails to arrive for their subsequent appointment in the neighboring town of Fenton, and when Kurt sticks around to question locals about the Reed family's disappearance, he's met with hostility and suspicion. There's a shroud of secrecy surrounding Fenton, and his investigation courts the attention of Department of Homeland Security agent Marisol Sumaya, who warns Kurt to leave town. Subsequent attacks on Kurt and Hudson bolster Kurt's resolve to undermine Sumaya and her associates, even as the stakes ratchet up. The narrative builds to a nerve-jangling climax as gangland assassins, mercenaries, and federal agents clash in a battle to take control of a top-secret government project with enormous global consequences. Once again, Plantinga hits the mark, serving up perfectly paced action and intriguing new wrinkles to Kurt's psychology. This series has legs.
Customer Reviews
My New Favourite Author
Loved this second book by this great author! Each one is like an action movie. Can’t wait to read what comes next…