In the Appalachian town of Bone Gap, Tennessee, backwoods justice is more than just blind. It’s swift, silent, and shockingly personal. Especially for Irish Traveller turned deputy sheriff Brynn Callahan . . . “Hear No Evil.”
The first message is found in a playground. A few feet away, a pair of human ears hang from the monkey bars. Deputy sheriff Brynn Callahan isn’t sure what to make of this grisly scene. Do the ears belong to a murder victim? And if so, where is the body? One thing Brynn is sure of: the earring on one of the earlobes belongs to a man she met at a party the previous night. . . “Speak No Evil.”
The second message is discovered next to a human tongue on a park pavilion. Once again, no body is found. Brynn can’t help but wonder if the crimes are rooted in the town’s long-simmering tensions between Bone Gap locals and the barely tolerated Travellers who’ve settled there. “See No Evil.”
For Brynn, the investigation hits too close to home—forcing her to confront the demons of her own past. But time is running out. Brynn has to track down the culprit before a third message is delivered—and a third victim is claimed. Rich, atmospheric, and brilliantly chilling, Shattered Justice is the third Bone Gap Travellers novel from the acclaimed author of Splintered Silence and Fractured Truth.
“Brynn Callahan is the gutsy heroine of Susan Furlong’s gritty series, a real find, if you ask me. The thickly forested setting is gorgeous, once you look past the armed militia encampments pitched in the woods. And the locals are just quirky enough to make you forget they can also be dangerous. But the sturdy wildflower in this treacherous terrain is Brynn, who lives with a dog named Wilco, ‘once the best damn HRD (human remains detection) dog in the entire Middle Eastern conflict.’ The question is, are these two veterans tough enough to survive on the home front?”
—The New York Times Book Review
“Furlong carefully interlaces the two story lines as they come together in an unexpected and nail-biting resolution…Readers will hope Brynn and Wilco will be back soon.” —Publishers Weekly “A harrowing portrait of addiction, prejudice, and redemption neatly encapsulated in a guileful mystery.”
—Kirkus Reviews
This is the third book in the Bone Gap Travellers series. It follows Brynn Callahan who grew up in the pavee community that has “settled” in Bone Gap, Tennessee. Brynn wasn’t really part of that community. Her mother got pregnant with a “settled” person and left Brynn to be raised by her grandmother. She always felt on the outside of both communities. After something happened when she was a teen, she joined the Marines. She’s now out after her and her cadaver dog were injured in an IED explosion. Now they both have PTSD and she’s working for the county sheriff’s office as a deputy.
In this story, Brynn and the sheriff’s office are finding body parts with messages. They need to find the person doing this before they kill again. Their search takes a lot of twists and turns. They run into a group of backwoods people, then on to a survivalist/militia group. Hard to know where to look next. Brynn also struggles with her addiction and has joined an AA type group as a requirement to keep her job. This story is the toughest one yet for Brynn.
I don’t want to go into too much detail on this book because it spoils the suspense of the story, but know this is a great read. I really love the characters in this series. Not just Brynn and her dog, but also her grandmother, her cousin, and the other deputies. I also like learning about the pavee community. I would recommend that you start with the first book, Splintered Silence. Each story builds on the previous one, so best if read in order.
Narration I really love Amy Landon. This isn’t the first series that I’ve listened to that she narrated. It was her name that caught my eye and made me look at this series. She does a great job with a large cast of characters. She’s great with male and female characters. If you haven’t tried Amy Landon, I highly recommend her.
**I'd like to thank the publisher for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
