Bad Day Breaking by John Galligan

Bad Day Breaking (A Bad Axe County Novel, #4)

by John Galligan

Wild Wild Country and Longmire meet in the latest in the “gritty, brash, and totally gripping” (The Real Book Spy) Bad Axe County series, as Sheriff Heidi Kick struggles to prevent a radical religious sect from turning her county into the next Jonestown, all while a dark secret from her past puts her life in danger.

A strange religious sect has arrived in Bad Axe County, Wisconsin. Armed with guns, an enigmatic spiritual leader and his followers set up their compound in an abandoned storage lot. It’s not long before rumors start to spread of sadistic rituals and a planned takeover of the local government. But when one of the followers is found dead in the river, that’s when full-on panic sets in.

Sheriff Heidi Kick may not be a fan of the new group, but she is also dismayed by the hostile reaction of the Bad Axe community. With a murder investigation on her hands, the situation becomes more complicated when Sheriff Kick finds out an ex-boyfriend from her youth is out on parole early and looking to hunt her down. With a tumultuous snowstorm on the horizon, the cult members are on the verge of freezing, Bad Axe is on the edge of violence, and Sheriff Kick is just one false step away from losing her family, her town, and her very life.

By a writer at the height of his powers, Bad Day Breaking is a thrilling mystery that explores the price paid for following false leaders and the power we each have to triumph over trauma.

Reviewed by annieb123 on

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Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

Bad Day Breaking is the 4th procedural mystery in Bad Axe County by John Galligan. Released 30th Aug 2022 by Simon & Schuster on their Atria imprint, it's 336 pages and is available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately. 

This is a very well written procedural novel with a returning cast of characters including local law enforcement, some of their family members, and a few eccentric small-town notables. Set in a rural area of Wisconsin, it's both isolated and remote enough to render it something of a closed circle/locked room setup. A cult has moved into the local environs and town inhabitants are very unhappy, bordering on panic. Local sheriff Heidi has a stressful and unmanageable PR crisis to deal with which is definitely not improved by the discovery of a murdered cult member with a slashed throat. A winter storm has inconveniently made her town even more isolated than normal.

The author is wonderfully adept with dramatic tension and plotting, and the prose sings in places. His writing is sublime, and unexpected in a police procedural thriller. It's a western- ish story and will likely appeal to current fans of Craig Johnson, Jeffery Deaver, and Dennis Lehane. 

Four stars. Very very well done. 

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes. 

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Reading updates

  • 24 March, 2023: Started reading
  • 24 March, 2023: Finished reading
  • 24 March, 2023: Reviewed