Former Texas Ranger Arlo Baines was just passing
through Piedra Springs, Texas, with nothing more on his mind than enjoying the
peace and quiet and a good book. Haunted by the memories of his deceased wife
and children, he just wants to be left alone as he drifts from place to place.
With just five folks in the only bar in the tiny West Texas town, if he counted
himself and the bartender, he thought the odds were in his favor. He also
thought the threat posed by any of the clientele was low to nonexistent.
That was until Suzy took more than a passing
interest in him. She is clearly trouble in more ways than one and is also in
trouble herself. It is also obvious to the former lawman that the man she is
with is a significant problem. A problem that is not just going to go away on
its own as the interest that Suzy showed in him was a small piece of the far
bigger issue. Predictably, it is not long before the situation has moved
outside to a parking lot outside the bar. Then things really go sideways and pull
the disgraced former Texas Ranger into a hideous mess involving the Russian
mafia, a cult, multiple murders, and more.
The Devil’s Country
is very reminiscent of a Reacher series book. Loner, with a
military or, in this case, over a decade in law enforcement by the way of the
Texas Rangers (the real deal and not the baseball team in Arlington), comes
into town, and just wants to be left alone. Alone to nurse his drinks, his
thoughts, and his haunted memories of the past. All is fine until there is a
person in distress that needs help. Usually the person is a woman which
triggers our loner hero’s need to be a knight in shining armor to protect the
fair damsel. Upon intervening, the loner hero runs afoul of the local law (who
may or may not be as crooked as a dog’s hind leg). Arrested the first time (loner
hero will spend lots of time arrested) and then released for whatever reason, said
loner seeks to have questions answered and garner support. As it happens, many
of the local populace are either part of the unspoken nefarious deeds, criminal
conspiracy, or on the outside and
powerless to stop it as they are heavily weighed down emotionally, or physically,
or financially, or all of the above. Said loner begins to wage a one person war
to fight back for justice and intends to destroy the evil doers so that the place
can be turned back over to the few good folks living in the area. Loner hero
will have some help along the way that almost always will include at least one
female, who may or may not, become physically intimate with the loner as she
understands him and seeks to heal him at least a little bit.
All that, like in a Reacher series novel, is
certainly present in The Devil’s Country. All that being
said, even when you know the framework and can predict with a high degree of
accuracy how things are going to play out, author Harry Hunsicker throws a few
curveballs while unleashing a fast moving and very entertaining story. Violent
and complicated, the read moves forward at a rapid pace as Arlo Baines works to
solve the many unspoken mysteries of Piedra Springs.
The second book in the series, Texas
Sicario, is due out on January 15, 2019.
The Devil’s Country
Harry Hunsicker
Center Point Large Print
April 1, 2018
ISBN# 978-1-68324-744-9
383 Pages
$37.95
Material supplied by the good folks of the Dallas Library
System.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2018
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