Reviews

The Innocents by Ace Atkins

alexcarbonneau's review against another edition

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4.0

Everybody needs a little Quinn Colson, Tibbehah County and Ace Atkins in their lives once in a while.

This is number 6 in the series and I move to rename the thing to the Tibbehah County Series instead of the Quinn Colson Series.
This modern western saga is so much more than a single MC, especially this iteration where Atkins finally centered it a bit more around Lily Virgil. It was refreshing to have her point of view. Virgil definitely has the strengh and complexity to get her own novel.

Tibbehah affectionados : this one follows the same recipe and even though you won't re-evaluate your life priorities after reading it, it is still damn good southern grit-lit and it sure is nice to renew with this universe.

Bonus points. Is it just me or Atkins got a bit more litterate on this one than his writing was in the previous Colson novels ?

billmorrow's review against another edition

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2.0

This one didn't work for me. Being the sixth book in a series, you'd expect some history and backstory to be included. You'd also expect to be clued in as to what that history is. That didn't happen here. There were subplots weaving through the book that appear to set the stage for something in a future book but did little to advance the main plot.

The main crime didn't take place until about a third of the way through the book. Not too many chapters later, it's fairly obvious who done it and why. The only suspense comes from how the perp will get caught.

Ace Atkins is a competent writer but his use of pop culture references to set a scene is frustrating. If you don't know the movie, show, or song, the feeling or mood he tries to convey gets lost. It becomes filler and there was far too much filler in this otherwise good book.

tjarmstrong's review

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dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

usbsticky's review against another edition

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1.0

By GoodReads rating system, 1 star = I didn't like it. This wasn't necessarily a bad book, I just didn't like it.

This book to me is The Dukes of Hazzard in book form. The characters act and speak like characters in the Dukes of Hazzard and the text is written like a script from that series as well. Just not my cup of tea. I got this book free as a review copy.

kingfan30's review against another edition

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2.0

Starting with a new author mid-series probably wasn’t the best idea. There seemed to be a lot of characters to get my head round and obviously back stories that I don’t know about. The mystery itself didn’t really get going until quite a way into the story. The characters seems quite backwards in their actions and racism seems quite rife, I don’t know how true this is of the area. Once the crime had been committed I worked out who done it quite quickly, not sure I would read more from this series.

martyfried's review

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4.0

Another fun read from the great state of Mississippi, with of course, a bit of Tennessee thrown in - perhaps because both those states have a surplus of double letters. All the really dumb, bigoted criminals are still here, along with a biker gang, but as usual, Quinn Colson and now-sheriff Lily Virgil keep things more or less under control.

In this story, a teenage girl is discovered walking down the street engulfed in flames. That's a pretty hard act to consider even for the bad guys in this town, but somebody or bodies did it, and it's up to our heroes to find out who, and perhaps why.

sunny76's review

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4.0

I do like Quinn Colson, Lillie Virgil, and the characters of Tibbehah County, Mississippi. I'm ready for the next one! I recommend reading these in order, although it's not required.

ronnies_booknook's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

She was just 17, a high school dropout named Milly Jones, found walking down the middle of the highway, engulfed in flames. I really enjoyed this book. The southerness of it reminded me of home. I loved the Fiesty lady sheriff Lillie, and hated Coach Bud Mills and Nito Reece. There were alot of unlikable characters,  but a good plot overall.

eleellis's review against another edition

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4.0

When it comes to serialized novels, one can't go wrong with Ace Atkins' Quinn Colson series.

Each book is solid entertainment and consistently good with each new novel. Atkins has not turned his characters into unbelievable caricatures often found in other series, nor do his tales breach the level of possibility.

Without giving too much away, Colson has returned home, again, after a stint away from home and aids in a murder investigation where multiple people have a motive for the killing. (I won't reveal more, because, oddly, the murder does not happen immediately in the novel).

All the regulars in his previous novels return and in this novel, Atkins is all ready placing the foundation for the future novels. Johnny T. Stagg may be in prison, but that doesn't other vermin rise to the top to take his place.

Strongly recommended for a nice, lazy summer read. his

trenton_ross's review

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adventurous medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0