COLD QUIET COUNTRY

Author:  Clayton Lindemuth

Genre:  Thriller, Standalone

Published:  2012

Personal Rating:  4.25/5 (very good +)

Format:  Book

Yearly Count:  85

From the Back of the ARC:

On his last day in power, with a blizzard threatening eighteen inches of snow, Sheriff Bittersmith is called to the scene of a crime.  A farmer has been stabbed clean through the neck with a pitchfork.  Two sets of tracks lead from the barn, and the dead man's frantic wife exclaims that her daughter is missing.  Convinced it was Gale G'Wain, the orphan who worked at the farm, Bittersmith follows the vanishing footprints into the storm.

Miles away, holed up in an empty farmhouse, Gale is alone and close to dead after falling through lake ice.  Innocent but unlikely to ever stand trial in this corrupt town, he loads his gun and prepares to defend himself against the dead man's sons and the sheriff's department.

Set in rural Wyoming in the 1970s and unfolding in a single day, Clayton Lindemuth's debut, COLD QUIET COUNTRY, explores small-town corruption and the lengths some people will go to exact revenge.

Oh my.  This was quite a book.

The good news:  I absolutely loved the suspense created by the cat and mouse action.  Suspense is what keeps me glued to the pages and lost in the words, and this book delivered!  I read the first half in one sitting and finished the book in a couple of days.  That is not my typical mode of operation, so that was exciting to have my nose buried in a book.

The bad news:  Eek!  It is filled with distasteful language and scenes.  It is very raw, crude and graphic in medical, farming and se*ual situations.  Not pleasant at all!  For women especially, it is enraging.  Thankfully the setting is in the 70s, so there's hope that this no longer exists, but it sure makes you want to stay clear of small towns!  There also is a paranormal element to the story, but it did not affect me in a negative way.

Back to the good:  Being immersed in a different place and time is what reading should be all about (added .25 for that).  It was a great diversion, but this sort of novel could not be my reading diet.  However, I am grateful to have had the experience of being so engrossed even though I was disgusted and angered a LOT!


  

My thanks go to Dan from Rarebird for sending me this ARC.