annieb123's review
4.0
Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.
The Heathens is the 11th Quinn Colson novel by Ace Atkins. Released 13th July 2021 by Penguin Putnam on their G.P. Putnam's Sons imprint, it's 416 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats.
This is a plainly written gutsy investigative procedural featuring an interesting dual plot following both Quinn Colson's investigation into the murder of a local woman and his ex-deputy's tracking the suspects wanted in the same murder. The writing is, as always, tight and unvarnished and engaging. The author's adept at writing action and equally talented with natural and believable dialogue.
I have enjoyed the other books in the series and recommend them, but this one works pretty well as a standalone. The author has tied up a number of multi-book plot threads in the previous book, so logistically speaking, this is a good place to jump in to the series.
This book will appeal to fans of the Longmire books, as well as Crais' Cole & Pike. This is by no means a derivative work, but it certainly has the same authenticity and realism in the characters, descriptions, and dialogue.
Four stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
The Heathens is the 11th Quinn Colson novel by Ace Atkins. Released 13th July 2021 by Penguin Putnam on their G.P. Putnam's Sons imprint, it's 416 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats.
This is a plainly written gutsy investigative procedural featuring an interesting dual plot following both Quinn Colson's investigation into the murder of a local woman and his ex-deputy's tracking the suspects wanted in the same murder. The writing is, as always, tight and unvarnished and engaging. The author's adept at writing action and equally talented with natural and believable dialogue.
I have enjoyed the other books in the series and recommend them, but this one works pretty well as a standalone. The author has tied up a number of multi-book plot threads in the previous book, so logistically speaking, this is a good place to jump in to the series.
This book will appeal to fans of the Longmire books, as well as Crais' Cole & Pike. This is by no means a derivative work, but it certainly has the same authenticity and realism in the characters, descriptions, and dialogue.
Four stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
perednia's review
4.0
The Quinn Colson books are a deep, dark look at today's South as it continues to wrestle with the past and the present colliding. In this outing, a teenage girl and her younger brother go on the run after it appears she and her mother argued one time too many. But is she the reason her mother is missing?
martyfried's review
5.0
Rednecks meet social media, social media wins. This one has lots of our favorite evils; aside from social media, we get lots of that good ol' boy religion (at least they think they're religious) and as usual some far-right crazies who think the KKK had the right idea, but perhaps a bit too tame.
We've got our old friend Johnny Stagg in the middle of most of the trouble, usually either causing it or fanning the flames. I guess he'll always be around. There's a father-son team of semi-dwarf roofers that are about as low as any human can get and still be classified as human, so of course they end up working with Stagg.
Lillie Virgil, a colorful favorite, plays a big part even though she no longer officially works with Quinn. And lots of kids play a big part and are the main subjects of the story - good kids who learned from bad parents, and have no adults they can trust, so of course they get into big trouble.
The closer I got to the end, the harder it was to stop. The story was barrelling downhill faster and faster, and I felt caught up in it, until it seemed like we were all going to crash big.
We've got our old friend Johnny Stagg in the middle of most of the trouble, usually either causing it or fanning the flames. I guess he'll always be around. There's a father-son team of semi-dwarf roofers that are about as low as any human can get and still be classified as human, so of course they end up working with Stagg.
Lillie Virgil, a colorful favorite, plays a big part even though she no longer officially works with Quinn. And lots of kids play a big part and are the main subjects of the story - good kids who learned from bad parents, and have no adults they can trust, so of course they get into big trouble.
The closer I got to the end, the harder it was to stop. The story was barrelling downhill faster and faster, and I felt caught up in it, until it seemed like we were all going to crash big.
eleellis's review
4.0
The Heathens by Ace Atkins is number eleven in the Quinn Colson series based in Tibbehah County, Tennessee.
Colson, a previous US Army Ranger, remains the sheriff of Tibbehah County and is mostly recovered from his injuries from a previous novel. In The Heathens, Atkins brings back familiar characters, while introducing new characters, including a bizarre and deadly father-son duo named Dusty and Flem Nix. The pair is as amusing as they are dangerous, possessing drives nearing psychopathy. Johnny Stagg also re-emerges, this time claiming to be a reformed community member. Stagg is with plans to open a family-oriented entertainment complex rather than being a provider of multi-county vice and adult entertainment, leaving readers to wonder if Stagg really has changed or if he is still a criminal chameleon.
(One question I would love to ask Ace Atkins is if his Johnny Stagg character is based upon actor Harry Dean Stanton).
The main story opens with the disappearance of a party-girl mother to troubled juvenile TJ Byrd, leaving TJ to care for her younger brother. Soon, due to TJ’s well-earned delinquency-filled reputation and because of accusations of misdeeds by her mother’s boyfriend, TJ soon becomes the suspect of a horrific crime involving her mother. TJ, her brother, best friend, and boyfriend Ladarius McCade, flee the county to escape being arrested for offenses she claims they did not commit. The four then go on a multi-state journey with each mile only adding to the troubles they are fleeing. Soon, the four meet a spoiled and troubled well-off young woman who turns TJ into a viral social media star that has falsely been accused of a depraved crime.
With law enforcement officials in pursuit, including US Marshal Lillie Virgil, the Nix brothers soon join the chase, with Sheriff Colson being the only one around skeptical of TJ being the one responsible for the crimes she has been accused of and with hopes of bringing her home without further bloodshed.
Of the eleven novels in the Quinn Colson series, Ace Atkins has yet to write a weak or off-the-mark installment and allows his characters and stories to evolve without becoming stale or redundant.
Netgalley provided an advanced reader copy for the promise of a fair review.
This review was originally published at MysteryandSuspense.com
jakewritesbooks's review
4.0
Ace Atkins spent the first ten books of his Quinn Colson series meticulously building up a Walking Tall-like story, parsing out a mythos of fictional Tibbehah County and developing the characters. He dialed it up to a boil in book ten, with big payoffs. Although the stakes are still high for this one, it feels like the beginning of a denouement.
Yeah there’s still some background as a player from the past comes back to haunt things in the troubled corner of northern Mississippi. But beyond that, this is more of a Case of the Week kind of tale, meaning to bide time while Atkins figures out what he wants to do with the rest of Quinn’s narrative. It’s fun, if overly familiar, apparently based on a true story that Atkins covered while a reporter with the Tampa Tribune. You know the beats by now if you’ve kept up with it but it’s still enjoyable.
The real question when you’re done with it all is: what is Atkins going to do now? He’s trying to reset his Big Bad but that just feels like a rerun of earlier novels. He doesn’t have any other place for Quinn to go, save fatherhood. He’s written about how he wants to do more with Lillie but I think he misses his chance to expand her arc here. He can keep churning these out for the next decade and I’ll be fine. They’re fun and gripping. But I’d like to see him take them to the next level sooner or later, or to a different place altogether.
Yeah there’s still some background as a player from the past comes back to haunt things in the troubled corner of northern Mississippi. But beyond that, this is more of a Case of the Week kind of tale, meaning to bide time while Atkins figures out what he wants to do with the rest of Quinn’s narrative. It’s fun, if overly familiar, apparently based on a true story that Atkins covered while a reporter with the Tampa Tribune. You know the beats by now if you’ve kept up with it but it’s still enjoyable.
The real question when you’re done with it all is: what is Atkins going to do now? He’s trying to reset his Big Bad but that just feels like a rerun of earlier novels. He doesn’t have any other place for Quinn to go, save fatherhood. He’s written about how he wants to do more with Lillie but I think he misses his chance to expand her arc here. He can keep churning these out for the next decade and I’ll be fine. They’re fun and gripping. But I’d like to see him take them to the next level sooner or later, or to a different place altogether.
akirsch2404's review against another edition
4.0
Good Solid Ace Atkins
Good structure to this thriller, bringing in old characters and introducing new ones. Greatly enjoy reading this series, and look forward to the next one.
Good structure to this thriller, bringing in old characters and introducing new ones. Greatly enjoy reading this series, and look forward to the next one.
theirresponsiblereader's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Tanya Jane Byrd, known to her friends as TJ, never gave a damn about being famous. But here she was, four days on the run from Tibbehah County, Mississippi, with that girl Chastity passing along The burner phone to show they now had more than a hundred thou sand followers on Instagram. They only had six posts, the newest one from just two hours ago after TJ cut her hair boy short, dyed it black as a raven’s wing, and made her ultimatum to that cowardly son of 2 bitch Chester Pratt. She called him out for not only her mother’s murder but the money she and her little brother John Wesley were owed.
On the forty-five-second clip shot outside the Tri-State Motel in Texarkana, she held up her fist on the diving board to an empty pool and said, “Fair is fair,” remembering the line from one of her mothers old VHS tapes in the trailer.
“What do you think?” Chastity asked.
“I think I better drop that phone into the nearest creek.”
What’s The Heathens About?
Seventeen-year-old TJ Byrd has spent her life convinced that her father was killed by Tibbehah County’s Sherriff, the uncle of the current Sherriff. This has left her with a pretty jaded view of law enforcement. So when she’s suspected in the disappearance—and then the murder of her mother, it’s understandable that she doesn’t assume she’s going to get a fair shake from those that suspect her. So, she grabs her little brother and with her best friend and her boyfriend, they hit the road and run. They’re not sure where they’re driving to, but it’s far away from Tibbehah.
That’s maybe not the brightest move, but she’s desperate.
Former Deputy/now US Marshall, Lilly Virgil assumes that TJ killed her mother. Lilly has seen what happens when the two of them fight and assumes that TJ has gone one step too far. Lilly pulls some strings and gets herself assigned to the fugitive hunt for TJ and the rest.
Sheriff Quinn Colson isn’t that convinced of TJ’s guilt but would like to talk to her about what happened. With her on the run, he does some legwork on the case on his own—looking into her mother’s boyfriend, finances, and history. The more he finds, the less he’s convinced that TJ had anything to do with her death, he just needs to find enough evidence to convince Lilly.
Meanwhile, Johnny Stagg is at work greasing palms and making plans for the future—and what he has in mind will look entirely different than anything we’ve already seen from him. He’s also trying to get a father and son to join his team—they have a penchant for violence, and Stagg is pretty sure he’ll have some work for them.
TJ Byrd
…I’m real sorry, TJ. You’re too young to got through a mess like this.”
“My life’s been a mess since I was born,” TJ said. “Don’t shed a tear for me, Sheriff.”
TJ Byrd is one of those characters that you can sense that an author really enjoys writing, and it carries over to the reader—she’s just a blast to read about. I felt like I got a better sense of her than I have a couple of protagonists this year. I want to write a lot about her, but I won’t because I just don’t want to take away the joy of discovery from a reader. So let me just say that if you can see the joy in reading about a rebellious, stubborn, delinquent teenager on the run from the law because she’s suspected of the gruesome murder of her mother, you’re really going to have fun with her. If that kind of character doesn’t really seem like something you’d enjoy—give Atkins a chance to prove you wrong.
The only thing I do feel safe in saying is that Atkins made a great Spotify playlist based on the character, and it tells you a lot about her (and makes pretty good reading/writing music if you’re dragging a bit).
A New Side of Colson?
The little girl wide awake now, as Maggie wiped her face with a napkin and handed her over to Quinn. He held his daughter tight, the child’s eyes wide and unfocused. Halley so small, light in his lap, while she checked out all the smells and sounds of the Fillin’ Station diner.
“She sure is curious,” Maggie said.
“Skeptical,” Quinn said.
“I guess she comes by it naturally.”
Quinn’s been a great step-dad to Brandon—and was a good uncle to Jason. But it feels different now with Halley in the picture. It seems like Quinn’s going to be a good, involved dad (as much as his job allows). I got a real Joe Pickett-vibe off of a couple of passages with Quinn at home in this one. Which is good—Joe at home is the most appealing part of the character, so seeing Quinn in this light makes me look forward to seeing how he develops along these lines.
Mythology vs. “Monster of the Week”
It’s a little off-genre here, but when I was thinking about this novel and its relation to the rest of the series, I thought about The X-Files and Fringe. There were essentially two types of episodes for those series—”Mythology” episodes that advanced or at least explored the overarching story about the series, and “monster of the week” episodes that were pretty much about some freakish thing that was taken care of within one episode—and while nods might have been made towards the mythology, overall it was independent of that story.
The Heathens follows a major mythology novel, The Revelators that tied up storylines that went back to the beginning as well as some new ones. The Heathens takes a break from it, telling a largely stand-alone story. This is good, it gives readers a chance to catch their breath, it gives Atkins a chance to tell a different kind of story while beginning to set the stage for the next big mythology chapter.
That said, it’s not “mythology”-free. The “new, improved” Johnny Stagg (who will remind you a lot of the “old, corrupt” Johnny Stagg) starts making plans, giving readers a hint about the kind of misery that’s heading to Tibbehah County and Quinn’s life. And there are references to and advances on some of the ongoing subplots, but they’re not the focus of the novel.
Edging Toward a Spoiler In This Paragraph
I don’t like to think this—even about fictional characters—but there’s a character death that brought me just so much pleasure. I’m not going to ruin it, as much as I want to. Murdered Character is someone I find nothing redeemable about—Stagg, at least, is entertaining to read about/detest. But this one? Didn’t enjoy reading about them, was hoping never to see them again—but if Atkins is going to bring them back just so he can kill them off? That’s more than okay by me.
So, what did I think about The Heathens?
This is a great way to start phase 2 of the Quinn Colson series, taking a little breather from major arcs to focus on this story—one that Quinn and Lilly really play supporting roles in—is a nice break from the intensity of the last couple of novels.
It’s also a great place to come on board the series if you haven’t read any of it before.
Lilly and Quinn being on opposite sides of the case—not really working against each other but sure not helping each other too obviously—is another nice touch. There’s an honest difference of opinion, and on the whole, they treat each other like adults set out to get to the bottom of something, no matter their divergent positions when it comes to how to deal with TJ.
Especially in the Quinn Colson series, Atkins has a history of giving us solid plots, great characters, and something extra. That’s the same here, but it feels a little fresher, a little rejuvenated after The Heathens. Choosing to focus on a few kids from Tibbehah County, while Lilly and Quinn are closing in on the truth (and the teens) is a nice change of pace, too.
As much as I enjoy his Spenser novels, it’s these Quinn Colson books where Atkins can show the world what he’s capable of. This is no exception to the rule—do yourself a favor and pick this up.
alexcarbonneau's review
4.0
A bit more "episodic" than The Shameless, but still my favorite series running!
Quinn Colson should be part of your summer traditions.
Quinn Colson should be part of your summer traditions.
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