Quinn Colson returns to Jericho, Mississippi, and gets pulled back into a world of greed and violence in this gritty, darkly comic tale from New York Times bestselling Southern crime master Ace Atkins. After being voted out of office and returning to the war zone he’d left behind, Quinn Colson is back in Jericho, trying to fix things with his still-married high school girlfriend and retired … girlfriend and retired Hollywood stuntman father. Quinn knows he doesn’t owe his hometown a damn thing, but he can’t resist the pull of becoming a lawman again and accepts a badge from his former colleague, foul-mouthed acting Sheriff Lillie Virgil. Both officers have fought corruption in Tibbehah County before, but the case they must confront now is nothing like they’ve ever seen…
When a former high school cheerleader is found walking a back road completely engulfed in flames, everyone in Jericho wants answers for the senseless act of violence. As Quinn and Lillie uncover old secrets and new lies, the entire town turns against them, and they soon learn that the most dangerous enemies may be the ones you trust most.
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Thanks to netgalley.com, Ace Atkins and the Penguin Group Putnam for the advance ARC for my honest review.
What an awesome book, totally enjoyed the latest Quinn Colson adventure and the Innocents is my favorite read of the year so far.
I really like the Quinn Colson character, he’s blue collar, tough as nails, an ex-Ranger, ex-sheriff of troubled Tibbehah County, who now works training police in Afghanistan, family oriented and will think of nothing to help his friends.
Have to give huge props to Ace Atkins writing style. The same way Jim Beam makes their wicked good bourbon . Likewise with each book Atkins just gets better and better.
With each offering, he adds new ingredients to his books, offers something new in his writing, it’s just not the same repetitive offerings and gets the readers imagination flowing to be right their for all the action.
Good or bad characters, man can Atkins ever just bring them vividly to life, he even makes bad dudes like Nito Reece seem like deep inside he’s a good guy who just made some bad choices in his life.
Man I love books like the Innocents, that have intertwining storylines ripped right out of today’s headlines, it has the fast pace I love, loaded with twists and turns, red herring offerings as to whodunnit, while the real bad guys hiding in plain sight, and hints of an old-time Western with the good verse evil in Northern Mississippi.
And be ready to be sucked right into the pages, your right their riding along with Quinn and Lilly as they chase after bad guys, or hanging out on the porch sipping Scotch with Quinn and his dad Jason, while steaks cook on the grill.
The other thing I like about Atkins books are, while the main characters top notch, he also has some great support characters in his stories.
With his Quinn stories, you got Lillie Virgil who just seems to take over the story or maybe it’s that she makes the story all that much better. Definitely would make for some good reading, if he every decided to start a series with her, like the chemistry they have and she’s probably the lady that Quinn should be dating. Bet she’d have him wrapped around her finger.
Then you have Quinn’s dad Jason, his mom Jean, his troubled sister Caddy who seems to finally have it together, Hondo his dog and his nephew little Jason. They all add to the storyline.
The other cool thing with Atkins writing is that their’s zero fluff, no needless characters, no cheat sheets required to keep up with the storyline and everything in his storyline helps tell the story.
Atkins should be in every reader’s book case, he’s that good of an author and just feel he deserves more recognition than he gets.
Author Bob Mayer refers to the big known publishing house authors as Airport Authors. Well Ace Atkins would be my favorite airport author, he can out write James Patterson and has a legend smilin’ down on him.
Mmmm…love me some Quinn Colson!!! I love this series sooo much with it’s crazy stories about small town corruption and shenanigans. I really like the personal dynamic that Quinn has with all the people in his life. Oh yeah, and to #%!! with Anna Lee, I NEVER liked her. GOOD RIDDANCE!!! Really liking the new characters that Atkins has added to the mix too. Looking forward to more Jericho mayhem and mishaps.