WINNER OF THE 2022 GEORGIA AUTHOR OF THE YEAR AWARD
Acclaimed Southern mystery master Christopher Swann delivers "a book that's literary fiction, a spy novel, and a relentless thriller all in one" (Lee Goldberg, New York Times bestselling author), perfect for fans of Linwood Barclay and Michael Farris Smith.
Nick Anthony has retreated to the North Carolina mountains to mourn the untimely death of his wife. Once a popular professor, Nick just wants to be left alone with his grief. But when his estranged brother and sister-in-law die in a house fire, a stunned Nick learns he has a niece, Annalise, who is missing.
At the scene of the crime, the men who set the fire have realized Annalise, and the information they are looking for, got away. Feverish and exhausted, she stumbles onto her uncle's porch, throwing Nick into the middle of the mystery of her parents’ death and the dangerous criminals hunting her down.
Hired to retrieve the stolen information at any price, private military contractor Cole and his team track Annalise to Nick’s cabin. But Nick has a hidden past of his own—and more than a few deadly tricks up his sleeve.
Mitch Rapp Meets Henry McCord With A Dash of John Rambo. If you're a fan of Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp or the CBS drama Madam Secretary, you're going to like this tale. If you're not... you should still give this one a try, as it is a fun action tale set in the wilds of the lower Appalachian Mountains in the Carolinas featuring a former "history professor" who has a few skills history professors normally don't. And the way Nick Anthony *uses* his skills in this book... well, when the action starts up you might start getting flashes of one of America's action icons. ;)
I happen to be a fan of all of those things named above (well, the earlier Rapp books anyway - which were some of my very first Kindle reads as I began making the transition to my now eReader Era), and for me as a native of the foothills of the region in question, this was truly great. This is the same general region I've gone to many vacations into over the years, and in fact is the same general region that Deliverance was filmed in. And for this Southern boy, finding novels set here that don't disparage our people and are kick-ass to boot... well, that's just awesome.
This book is set up primarily as a standalone, but with these characters and with at least one or two things dangling by the end, it could easily be seen as the beginning of a series that could potentially be as good or better than the Rapp series, so this reader in particular certainly urges the author to at least consider the possibilities. Very much recommended.
Reading updates
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Started reading
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5 July, 2021:
Finished reading
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5 July, 2021:
Reviewed