ramblingmads

A dense, brilliantly rendered novel by a new master of Southern gothic’ Kirkus

In this thrilling debut, Henry Wise transports readers to the Deep South, to a town poisoned by corruption and haunted by its past.

Will Seems has not returned to Euphoria, Virginia County, since his mother’s death. Now, taking a job as a Deputy Sheriff, he is forced to confront the turbid currents of this backwater town. Will is confronted by his past when a mysterious homicide claims the life of a close friend. The brutality of the crime serves as a grim reminder of the true reason for Will’s return — to atone for the past.

The local police rush to close the homicide case by arresting a man Will knows to be innocent and he faces a community that refuses to confront its history. Personal grievances and deep-seated prejudices undermine his every attempt to uncover the truth. Will’s hunt for answers leads him to Snakefoot, a dense wilderness long serving as a refuge for outcasts. It is here that old secrets lie buried, waiting to be unearthed.

Henry Wise is a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute and the University of Mississippi MFA program. A writer across multiple genres, his poetry has been published in Shenandoah, Radar Poetry, Clackamas, Nixes Mate Review, and elsewhere. His non-fiction and photography have appeared in Southern Cultures. Holy City is his first novel.

My thoughts: The tangled web of secrets, some dating back decades, that connect the residents of this small town continue to impact their present, even when they try running from them.

Will Seems is hiding a fugitive in the form of his childhood friend Sam, despite being a Sheriff’s Deputy, because he feels he owes him following a violent incident in their childhood. When another childhood friend is murdered, Will is desperate to prove that Sam’s father isn’t the killer, despite being caught fleeing the scene. 

The Sheriff however is sure they’ve got their man, no motive, but plenty of circumstantial evidence, and isn’t willing to look any further. Especially not at the dead man’s girlfriend, who he secretly swore to protect and look out for years before.

When a private detective is hired to actually look into to case, by the victim’s mother and the wife of the man in custody (because they both know he’s innocent), Will is asked to help her out, even as it brings him into conflict with his boss. I lost track of how many times Will quits/gets suspended/is fired/quits again.

It all ends in an even bigger mess, with shots fired, a confession, and Will being encouraged to run for Sheriff over the corrupt and frankly hopeless incumbent.

Will feels he’s failed his friends, and while he remains in the town, at his family’s old farm, he’s still haunted by his demons and ghosts, which may well be the death of him.

Many of the characters are deeply conflicted and held back by the past, to the point where the wrong person is arrested and could be charged with murder in a state with the death penalty. Those old wounds linger and make people commit terrible mistakes. The Sheriff doesn’t come out of any of this well, holding what he thinks he knows over people to control them. Will is broken by his losses and what he perceives as his failures, unable to see another way. This isn’t a happy book, but it is certainly an interesting one.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

A calculated killer. A life hanging in the balance. A decision that changes everything…

For the first time in her life, DCI Emma Gardner finds herself unable to concentrate on the job she loves. Her thoughts are now always with her old colleague Paul Riddick, who lies desperately ill in hospital – a tortured man in life, now facing death.

When a young woman dies from seemingly natural causes, Emma can’t help feeling that something isn’t quite right with the case, but she needs her team to pick up the slack whilst she focuses on Paul.

The case proves more complex than anyone imagined and will test the team like never before. But unbeknownst to everyone, there is another threat lurking even closer to home – Emma’s unpredictable brother Jack. And with Emma distracted, he has free rein to put right the dark and twisted grievances from his own past.

But his actions, when they come, will be devastating. And will destroy everything Emma loves…

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Wes Markin lives in Harrogate and is the bestselling author of the DCI Yorke crime novels set in Salisbury. He is also the author of the Jake Pettman series set in New England.

“An explosive and visceral debut with the most terrifying of killers. Wes Markin is a new name to watch out for in crime fiction.” – Bestselling Crime Author Stephen Booth

Perfect for fans of Chris Carter, James Patterson, Chris Brookmyre, and Stuart Macbride.

Facebook: @WesMarkinAuthor

Instagram: @WesMarkinAuthor
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My thoughts: I really enjoyed the previous books in this series and a lot of the long running plots come to a head here as Emma tries to deal with her brother leaving prison, her former colleague Paul being in a coma, critically ill, and her relationship with Lucy, while also juggling a rather complex case.

Her brother’s return is troubling, he’s a sociopath who murdered a man in front of her and shot Lucy. Now he’s out and she’s worried about his plans and how his presence will affect his daughter, who Emma adopted. Then there’s the presence of the somewhat sinister Neville, who has engineered Jack’s release for his own ends.

The case itself is a puzzle, what young woman with no history of heart trouble just drops dead of a heart attack? Emma is convinced there’s something else going on, especially as the victim’s husband seems somewhat unaffected and is a bit of a mystery himself. The team dig into the case as Emma sits by Paul’s bed, waiting for him to either wake up or possibly die, as a dangerous infection has set in. In his coma Paul is plagued by a mix of memories and dreams, puzzling and troubling.

Can the team solve the case and catch a killer? Will Paul wake up? And what consequences are there following Jack’s release? Well, you’ll have to read the book. There’s plenty of twists and a really shocking ending to keep you hooked. Great stuff.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.