Description de l’éditeur
Army cop-turned-small-town-investigator Mick Hardin returns to Appalachia in this propulsive thriller from the award-winning author of The Killing Hills.
Mick Hardin is an Army CID officer home on leave, recovering from an IED attack and flirting with prescription painkillers, when a body is found in the center of town. It's Barney Kissick, the local heroin dealer, and the city police see it as an occupational hazard. But when Barney's mother, Shifty, asks Mick to take a look, it seems there's more to the killing than it seems. Mick should be rehabbing his leg, signing his divorce papers, and getting out of town—and most of all, staying out of the way of his sister's reelection as Sheriff—but he keeps on looking, and suddenly he's getting shot at himself.
A dark, pacy crime novel about grief and revenge, and the surprises hidden below the surface, Shifty's Boys is a tour de force that confirms Mick Hardin as one of the most appealing new investigators in fiction.
Praise for The Killing Hills
"[A] work of rural noir whose characters' singular codes lead to constant surprises." —The Wall Street Journal
"Dark, but deeply humane. The love in this book is deep and powerful. And winsome twinkles shine through the blackness throughout, thanks in no small part to Offutt's keen ear and eye." —The New York Times
"Sense of place also steams off the pages . . . Pitch-perfect in its tone and dialogue, if more interested in mood than in the business of plot, this is what Jack Reacher wants to be when it grows up." —The Times [UK]
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Offutt's strong sequel to 2021's The Killing Hills finds Army CID officer Mick Hardin back home in rural eastern Kentucky recuperating from an IED attack overseas when he's hired by local matriarch Shifty Kissick to look into the murder of her drug dealer son, Barney, whose body was found behind an auto parts store. With a keen eye and easy rapport with the town's seedier characters and members of law enforcement, Mick finds his way into the thick of a conspiracy larger than a heroin deal gone bad. Meanwhile, Mick's sister, Sheriff Linda Hardin, is running for reelection and has to carefully navigate the freewheeling if nevertheless effective methods of Mick's investigation in order to keep her nose clean. Mick's pending divorce with his estranged wife back in Germany adds some depth to his character, but the emotional stakes often feel like an afterthought. Readers will appreciate the novel's respectful portrayal of the contemporary South as they ride along with Mick on his fair-minded, almost spiritual quest to root out the truth. Fans of contemporary small-town mysteries will look forward to Offut's next.
