sjj169's review
3.0
Quinn Colson has been out-voted as sheriff in Tibbehah County thanks to the help of the local bad guy Johnny Stagg. His new replacement ends up being an "aw-shucks" kind of guy who just wants things to work out without having to do much for it to do so. Who ends up not being interested in "helping" Johnny Stagg with his business adventures either.
Stagg leaned in and whispered, "I tried to be friendly and he went and got uppity, started talking about integrity."
"Doesn't the man sell insurance?"
"Exactly what I'm talking about here."
So a couple of the local boys team up with a couple of complete idiots to rob the local lumber mill owner because he pissed a couple of them off. They end up with close to a million dollars and some papers that Johnny Stagg does not want made public.
One of the idiots ends up shooting one of the local deputies so that pisses off the local cops including Lillie Virgil. So she starts digging for answers.
Quinn had kinda lost a bit of his edge in this book for me. He is still bad-ass but I swear that dang Anna Lee storyline gets on my nerves. You would think for a man that is supposed to be so smart he would have a clue about her. I'm ready for her to get killed off. I'm sure some redneck in this town should be pissed off enough at her butt by now.
The saving grace of this book was the bad guys that robbed the lumber yard owner. They were so over the top stupid that I immediately rooted for them to win. Too bad for the fact that they were too stupid to live.
One of them has a van that is completely devoted to promoting his love for "Roll-Tide" Alabama football. Decorated to proclaim his love and even has naked pictures of women shellac coated throughout for the idiots viewing pleasure. The stories of Pee Wee Sparks woman winning ways had me cracking up.
So will I read the rest of this series since I've read the first and the fifth book? Probably, I do like Quinn's character enough to want to see what he gets up to next.
"Mrs. Cobb," Quinn said. "You got to give me something. This is not a Lifetime movie."
"Not until I'm dead," she said. "Someone slits my throat and it'll be Midnight in Mississippi or Sheltered Secrets or something like that."
Quinn smiled. "Who would play your part?"
"Maybe Delta Burke," Debbi said. "Before she gained all that weight. Just promise me it will be a real southern woman. I really can't stand some actress making us all sound like g.d. Scarlett O'Hara."
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley.
Stagg leaned in and whispered, "I tried to be friendly and he went and got uppity, started talking about integrity."
"Doesn't the man sell insurance?"
"Exactly what I'm talking about here."
So a couple of the local boys team up with a couple of complete idiots to rob the local lumber mill owner because he pissed a couple of them off. They end up with close to a million dollars and some papers that Johnny Stagg does not want made public.
One of the idiots ends up shooting one of the local deputies so that pisses off the local cops including Lillie Virgil. So she starts digging for answers.
Quinn had kinda lost a bit of his edge in this book for me. He is still bad-ass but I swear that dang Anna Lee storyline gets on my nerves. You would think for a man that is supposed to be so smart he would have a clue about her. I'm ready for her to get killed off. I'm sure some redneck in this town should be pissed off enough at her butt by now.
The saving grace of this book was the bad guys that robbed the lumber yard owner. They were so over the top stupid that I immediately rooted for them to win. Too bad for the fact that they were too stupid to live.
One of them has a van that is completely devoted to promoting his love for "Roll-Tide" Alabama football. Decorated to proclaim his love and even has naked pictures of women shellac coated throughout for the idiots viewing pleasure. The stories of Pee Wee Sparks woman winning ways had me cracking up.
So will I read the rest of this series since I've read the first and the fifth book? Probably, I do like Quinn's character enough to want to see what he gets up to next.
"Mrs. Cobb," Quinn said. "You got to give me something. This is not a Lifetime movie."
"Not until I'm dead," she said. "Someone slits my throat and it'll be Midnight in Mississippi or Sheltered Secrets or something like that."
Quinn smiled. "Who would play your part?"
"Maybe Delta Burke," Debbi said. "Before she gained all that weight. Just promise me it will be a real southern woman. I really can't stand some actress making us all sound like g.d. Scarlett O'Hara."
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley.
anotherheather's review against another edition
3.0
This one seemed to jump around a lot. Not my favorite in the series, but a good story nonetheless.
shelleyrae's review against another edition
4.0
In The Redeemers, Colson has lost the re-election for Sherrif of Tebbehah Country, thanks to Stagg's machinations, but he is not quite ready to walk away, determined to witness the FBI finally take Johnny Stagg down. Meanwhile the new Sheriff, Rusty Wise, is thrown into the deep end when a local businessman's home is robbed and a deputy shot during the commission of the crime.
The theft has surprising implications for County Tebbehah because the stolen safe contains records of business transactions between Larry Cobb and various officials that could expose the breadth and depth of the corruption that plagues the county. Stagg's colleagues aren't at all happy with the associated risks of the ledger coming to light and are determined to quash any threat, including both the new, and the old, Sheriff leading to a bloody confrontation.
The seriousness of the threat against Colson is countered by the ineptitude and general buffoonery of the thieves. Mickey and Kyle are local boys seeking revenge who hire self proclaimed safe cracker PeeWee Sparks and his crazy 'Bama fan nephew. The foursome offers plenty of over the top dark humour as their plan goes badly awry.
Meanwhile Quinn's personal life is as messy as ever, Caddy is using again, and he must track her down and get her into rehab. Quinn has broken up with Ophelia, putting Anna-Lee in the frame once more (ugh), and Colson's father is hanging around, trying to convince his now unemployed son to become a farmer.
As I've come to expect, there is plenty of tension and action to keep things interesting. The writing and pace flows well, and for fans there are some long term storylines are put to rest.
This book feels as if it could be the last to feature Quinn Colson though I can't find anything to either confirm or refute my suspicions. There are threads remaining that could easily be picked up to continue the series but should Atkins decide to finish it here, though I'd like to see it to keep going, I'd be satisfied.
martyfried's review
4.0
Another winner from Ace Atkins, my guilty pleasure in reading. More really dumb criminals, much like its lookalike TV show Justified. If you've read the earlier books, it's mostly more of the same, which is a good thing. If you haven't read them, you should start with the earlier books, as the story is pretty much continuous.
sunny76's review
5.0
I can't wait for the next Quinn Colson installment. Mr. Atkins is very good at leaving a few openings salvos for the next book and circling around to close openings left in previous installments.
jakewritesbooks's review against another edition
4.0
I’ve more or less binged Ace Atkins’ Quinn Colson series while in quarantine. These books are perfect for the middlebrow crime lover: good dialogue, believable characters, textured but not complicated plot, and either a refreshing take or at least not a boring rehash of genre tropes. When suggested to me over the years, I assumed these would be Walking Tall ripoffs but they’re not. Atkins is a quality writer and he creates characters with real depth. Perhaps most crucially: he lets his male characters have complicated emotions. Even if they come out in dialogue or internal monologue, we get a sense that the tough guy act is a facade, born from their hardbitten (frequently racist) ancestors who never felt good enough.
Although it gets the same 4-star rating as the others, this is probably my favorite of the series. The criminals verge on the screwball type reminiscent of Elmore Leonard but Atkins always makes sure to note how their machinations are steeped in lower class southern hardship. You root against them but you also feel bad for them. Atkins also does a good job continuing to build the world of Tibbehah, making it feel like a real place, almost a character in the story itself.
Aside from the predictable shootout, which was a bit too cinematic for my taste, I really liked the ending here. Five novels in and it’s probably high time for the chessboard to be rearranged. Atkins does a great job of it. I was hanging off every word.
Gonna probably take a small break here from them and let it sit before I get to the back half (apparently, there’s a 10th book coming out this year so I’m halfway through).
Although it gets the same 4-star rating as the others, this is probably my favorite of the series. The criminals verge on the screwball type reminiscent of Elmore Leonard but Atkins always makes sure to note how their machinations are steeped in lower class southern hardship. You root against them but you also feel bad for them. Atkins also does a good job continuing to build the world of Tibbehah, making it feel like a real place, almost a character in the story itself.
Aside from the predictable shootout, which was a bit too cinematic for my taste, I really liked the ending here. Five novels in and it’s probably high time for the chessboard to be rearranged. Atkins does a great job of it. I was hanging off every word.
Gonna probably take a small break here from them and let it sit before I get to the back half (apparently, there’s a 10th book coming out this year so I’m halfway through).
plantbirdwoman's review against another edition
2.0
In Ace Atkins' fictional county of Tibbehah in North Mississippi, Quinn Colson, the ex-Army ranger, has just lost his re-election as sheriff. The corrupt money in town had backed his opponent, an insurance salesman, and that won the day for the man. In Colson's last few days in office, he is still trying to find a way to bring down his main nemesis and the purveyor of corruption, Johnny Stagg. Stagg is well-entrenched in the halls of power in the county and the state and putting him behind bars will not be easy.
Colson is aided in his quest by his estimable assistant, Lillie Virgil. Lillie is one of the few - maybe the only - truly virtuous characters in this southern noir suspense novel. Most of the characters, including the sheriff who is carrying on an illicit affair with his former high school sweetheart, are flawed in the extreme.
As the novel begins, Quinn and Lillie are in Memphis waiting outside a house of ill repute for the appropriate moment to go inside and bring out Quinn's sister, Caddy. An extremely troubled woman with a history of addiction, she had gone off the rails again following the murder several months before of the man that she loved. Quinn and Lillie are able to extract her and take her home to be admitted to a rehab center in Tupelo.
Then, Quinn settles down to see out his last few days in office and to concentrate on Johnny Stagg.
In his efforts to bring Stagg to justice, he has the clandestine help of an undercover federal agent, also a former Army ranger. But right smack dab into the middle of their plans comes a quartet of inept thieves and housebreakers, three of whom manage with great difficulty to steal a safe from the home of a local businessman. The safe contains almost a million dollars, plus jewels, homemade porn tapes, and books which outline the illicit transfers of funds to corrupt politicians in return for favors. The books incriminate the businessman as well as Johnny Stagg and powerful state politicians. Although by this time Quinn is no longer the sheriff, his lover, who is the niece of the businessman's wife, asks him to investigate.
Ace Atkins is a talented writer and this book, as all of his books do, shows a professional at work. He is from the area that he features in these Quinn Colson books, as, in fact, I am, and he brings the atmosphere of the small town and rural community where everybody knows everybody else and their business vividly to life. He has an ear for the speech cadences of the area and I have no trouble hearing the voices of his characters as I read.
That being said, there are things about the voices of his characters that I began to find extremely annoying after a while. I don't think I am any more prudish than your average reader, but I got really, really tired of reading the references to boobies, titties, shitheels, poon hounds, etc. that are liberally sprinkled on almost every page of the book. Such language seemed like a shortcut that the writer was using to create certain images in our minds. The images are well-known stereotypes of ignorant Southern characters. I'm sure the language and the stereotypes that it sketches have strong appeal to some readers, but a little of it goes a very long way with me and after a certain point, I find it offensive. I do not think that I am the reader that Mr. Atkins seeks.
This is the fifth book in this series. The last couple of books had shown growth in some of the recurring characters, but this one just seemed like a step backwards to me.
And what's up with all those subtle hints at a possible romantic relationship between Colson and Lillie Virgil? Is that where this is headed? I'm not sure Colson deserves such a highly intelligent and capable woman. He seems inexorably drawn to quite a different type.
Overall, I guess I'm just a bit disappointed in the character of Quinn Colson and in the direction in which Atkins seems to be taking this series. Maybe it's time for me to quit it for a while and move on to something else.
Colson is aided in his quest by his estimable assistant, Lillie Virgil. Lillie is one of the few - maybe the only - truly virtuous characters in this southern noir suspense novel. Most of the characters, including the sheriff who is carrying on an illicit affair with his former high school sweetheart, are flawed in the extreme.
As the novel begins, Quinn and Lillie are in Memphis waiting outside a house of ill repute for the appropriate moment to go inside and bring out Quinn's sister, Caddy. An extremely troubled woman with a history of addiction, she had gone off the rails again following the murder several months before of the man that she loved. Quinn and Lillie are able to extract her and take her home to be admitted to a rehab center in Tupelo.
Then, Quinn settles down to see out his last few days in office and to concentrate on Johnny Stagg.
In his efforts to bring Stagg to justice, he has the clandestine help of an undercover federal agent, also a former Army ranger. But right smack dab into the middle of their plans comes a quartet of inept thieves and housebreakers, three of whom manage with great difficulty to steal a safe from the home of a local businessman. The safe contains almost a million dollars, plus jewels, homemade porn tapes, and books which outline the illicit transfers of funds to corrupt politicians in return for favors. The books incriminate the businessman as well as Johnny Stagg and powerful state politicians. Although by this time Quinn is no longer the sheriff, his lover, who is the niece of the businessman's wife, asks him to investigate.
Ace Atkins is a talented writer and this book, as all of his books do, shows a professional at work. He is from the area that he features in these Quinn Colson books, as, in fact, I am, and he brings the atmosphere of the small town and rural community where everybody knows everybody else and their business vividly to life. He has an ear for the speech cadences of the area and I have no trouble hearing the voices of his characters as I read.
That being said, there are things about the voices of his characters that I began to find extremely annoying after a while. I don't think I am any more prudish than your average reader, but I got really, really tired of reading the references to boobies, titties, shitheels, poon hounds, etc. that are liberally sprinkled on almost every page of the book. Such language seemed like a shortcut that the writer was using to create certain images in our minds. The images are well-known stereotypes of ignorant Southern characters. I'm sure the language and the stereotypes that it sketches have strong appeal to some readers, but a little of it goes a very long way with me and after a certain point, I find it offensive. I do not think that I am the reader that Mr. Atkins seeks.
This is the fifth book in this series. The last couple of books had shown growth in some of the recurring characters, but this one just seemed like a step backwards to me.
And what's up with all those subtle hints at a possible romantic relationship between Colson and Lillie Virgil? Is that where this is headed? I'm not sure Colson deserves such a highly intelligent and capable woman. He seems inexorably drawn to quite a different type.
Overall, I guess I'm just a bit disappointed in the character of Quinn Colson and in the direction in which Atkins seems to be taking this series. Maybe it's time for me to quit it for a while and move on to something else.
trenton_ross's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.0
joikeen's review
4.0
Excellent, quality adventure. Loving the developments of Quinn and Lillie and crew.