Jeff Sexton
Yet Another Excellent Entry In Series. Seriously y'all, if you enjoy small towns and family drama, you're going to love this entire series. So just go all the way back to Book 1, start there, and this one will be here when you get here.
Yet again with this series, Bratt bases the crime of the book on an all-too-real one, though as she notes in the author's note, this particular one was *so* horrible that she just couldn't bring herself to replicate certain elements of the real crime in her fictional world.
And that brings me to my one criticism of this particular book. Anyone that knows Bratt and follows her on social media, particularly her Facebook page, knows that she brings quite a bit of her own real world into her fiction, and there was one particular line that while meant as fiction and from a character's perspective... there are just too many instances of the real world blending into the fictional for this line not to be addressed in my review, particularly since, as I told Bratt personally, I tend to call such bullshit lines out any *other* time I see them, and I do try my best to approach every book and every author in the same manner, *no matter what*. Indeed, the very line in question references by name and detail an all too real event that happened just months before publication of this book.
The particular line in question here is that "The gun laws in this State are a joke, and you know it. That's why we've got tragedies like Apalachee High School - two kids and two teachers gunned down because *it's easier to buy an AR-15 than it is to adopt a damn dog*." (Emphasis mine).
As I told Bratt directly before sitting down to write this review - and I quote: "As someone who has both adopted a dog and bought a gun in the State of Georgia - the gun across State lines at a Georgia gun show while living in South Carolina, no less! - I can state without hesitation or equivocation that Bratt is 100% wrong about it being easier to buy a gun in the State than adopt a dog. For one, there are no background checks at all when adopting from a County-run animal shelter, while buying a gun anywhere in the United States requires a criminal background check to be completed before the gun can be purchased - yes, even if buying the gun at a gun show. Furthermore, while where I can take my dog is not legally restricted in any manner (though property owners certainly may decline to allow my dog on their property), where I can take my gun is heavily restricted, even in the State of Georgia."
I also told her that I would also note here that this is absolutely one of those issues where your mileage may vary - you may agree that guns need to be more heavily regulated or you may not, you may think that pet adoption or pets generally need to be more heavily regulated or not - but the statement in the text was 100% wrong in the real State of Georgia, and I've personally experienced both sides of the statement and know of what I speak here. But hey, Bratt never specifically addresses these issues in her fictionalized Georgia, so even though it bears a striking resemblance to the real thing, as authors frequently note in the front pages of their fiction books "This work is fiction and not intended to represent any real person, place, or thing no matter how similar they may or may not be. The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the fictional characters only and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions held by any real person, including the author." So let's give Bratt the benefit of the doubt here that she isn't addressing the real State of Georgia in that particular line and move on. :)
Again, outside of that particular line, the book itself is perhaps even one of the stronger of the entire series - which is saying something, considering Bratt originally intended to end this series a few books ago, but fans keep demanding to come back to this world, and she keeps delivering. The drama in our central family is coming back up from unexpected and interesting places, there is more drama brewing in other areas well established earlier in the series yet which had cooled off in recent books, the crime of the book is particularly gnarly and the investigation is tight without being the frenetic sprint of the prior book...
It just all works truly, truly well, and again, makes this one of the stronger books in the series to date overall.
So again, go back to book 1 (assuming you're new to the series) and get here - you'll want to get here when you do, and this book will make you fall in love with the series all over again and want at least one more book from it. Which Bratt may or may not have news about in the Author's Note. ;)
Very much recommended.