Saturday, October 31, 2020

First Texas Red River Mystery from Reavis Z. Wortham, THE ROCK HOLE (Re-Release)


At first it sounds confusing -- THE ROCK HOLE is the first of seven Texas Red River mysteries from Reavis Z. Wortham, with the eighth one coming out next January. So how is number one an October 202 release? Answer: It's a Re-release. Here's the explanation from the author's website:

"His first award-winning novel in the Red River series, The Rock Hole, was originally released in 2011. With the merger of Poisoned Pen Press and Sourcebooks, this debut novel re-releases in October, 2020, with a fresh, updated cover and an introduction by legendary Texas author, Joe R. Lansdale."

Now that we've got that taken care of, let's get to the book. In the summer of 1964, 10-year-old Top arrives at his grandparents' home up on the Red River, for some stability and good cooking. His Grandpa is the local constable, and soon Top is seeing more of the exciting and terrifying world of deadly crime than most kids get exposed to. Constable Ned Perkins, as Grandpa is known to adults, is on duty to take a look at a dead dog on their way home, the fifth killed, and Top gets a look at the horrible carcass -- but more importantly, he gets trusted with a secret, as his Grandpa says, "That's your Uncle Cody's bird dog someone stole out of his pen last week. But don't you say anything to him about it. I'll tell him." When Top asks why, Grandpa replies, "Because I said not to."

Top, of course, has no idea of the significance of someone escalating in grisly kills, or of how close and meaningful the kills are to his own family. But his Grandpa has. "Townspeople on official business passed Ned, recognizing the familiar constable elected only six years after Bonnie and Clyde passed through town." And when Ned checks in with his ally, Judge O.C. Rains, the two men pool their memories, goaded by a news clipping left behind with the dog's carcass.

With two fingers, O.C. pulled the newspaper clipping out of the envelope and spread it on the scarred desk in front of him. He waved at half a dozen flies that were immediately attracted to the odor. "You don't think he'll go to killing people now, do you?"

"I don't think anything yet, except this is cranking up a notch. He's liable to do anything."


And sure enough, the killer does escalate. Disturbingly, he's aiming at the circle of people closest to Ned, and Top and the other kids around him are quickly at risk. So is Top's Uncle Cody, his "favorite black sheep relative," a Vietnam veteran with an exciting tendency to get into trouble.

The tension ramps up, and it's hard to set the book down, since the action is nonstop. For Top, every twist, from Uncle Cody's lady friend and dance hall fist fight to his grandfather's law enforcement allies. could bring disaster. "Constable Raymond Chase passed the highway from the other direction, so I knew some people were going to jail. I hoped he wouldn't come to the house and get Cody, too."

Hard for some of us to recognize 1964 as the distance in the past that it actually represents, from "the War" to the slow inching along of "color" barriers at the time. THE ROCK HOLE will refresh all of that, while laying out an action thriller from two points of view and tearing open childhood's tender observations. Shelve this next to To Kill a Mockingbird for a look at another side of personal darkness and small-town caring. 

It makes sense that C. J. Box blurbed this book -- not just for the terrain, but for the flawed and family-bound people in it. Worth reading without distraction, so go ahead and spring for the newly released chunky paperback and clear

PS: Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.

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