Code of the Hills

January 1, 2023

With Robert B. Parker's Bad Influence, the Edgar and Shamus Award-winning Gaylin becomes the first female author to enter the legendary Parker's universe, with Parker's only female series protagonist, PI Sunny Randall, acting as bodyguard to an Instagram influencer. In Johansen's The Survivor, forensic sculptor Eve Duncan and archaeologist Riley Smith trek through the jungles of Laos, intent on finding (and saving) a rare animal threatened with extinction (100,000-copy first printing). Passing through Kentucky in Offutt's Code of the Hills, Mick Hardin has every intention of heading on to France but instead gets caught up in helping sheriff sister Linda investigate the murder of a popular mechanic at the local racetrack. Jack Morgan of the investigation agency Private is standing in the New York Stock Exchange with a former U.S. Marine buddy when his buddy is shot to death, leaving Jack to follow clues to Russia; Patterson and Hamdy's Private Moscow is the first "Private" thriller since 2018. With Alex Cross Down owing to serious injury, John Sampson is left alone to deal with a series of ferocious, seemingly unrelated military-style attacks; Patterson and DuBois reunite. In Petrie's The Heavy Lift, veteran Peter Ash is helping loyal friend Lewis get beyond the criminal life by tracking down an associate, but all they find is a burnt-down cabin--with notebooks that could incriminate Lewis now unaccounted for. In Rollins's Tides of Fire, a military submarine's disappearance off Australia's coast leads to warfare in a dead sea recently found to be rich with bioluminescent coral, and the subsequent geological disaster destabilizes an entire region (250,000-copy first printing). From the late Woods, Near Miss is another--and maybe final?--Stone Barrington title.

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2023
After two decades, Mick Hardin's career in the U.S. Army is finally coming to an end. This is his last day, as a matter of fact. After 20 years, most of them as an investigator in the Criminal Investigation Division, he's out. His plan is to move to France, see what happens next. But first, back home, briefly, in Rocksalt, Kentucky, he finds that his sister, the town sheriff, is dealing with a pair of murders. When she's sidelined, Mick is quickly deputized. In Offutt's third Hardin title, following The Killing Hills (2021) and Shifty's Boys (2022), Mick continues to be a wonderful character--strong, resilient, compassionate--and here we see him very much in family-man mode, a man who is deeply concerned for his sister but also a man who values a close-knit community. Offutt is from Kentucky and often writes about it. Here, Rocksalt is as much a character as its people, and the author writes about them all with the kind of intimacy and perceptiveness that comes from a long and ardently observant association. More Mick Hardin stories, please.

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Starred review from April 15, 2023
Excellent Kentucky noir--Offutt's third Mick Hardin novel is the best yet. Mick, a veteran Army investigator, has finally mustered out after 20 years of service, and he's headed home to Rocksalt for a quick last look and goodbye before he retires (or exiles himself) to Corsica. Just as he arrives home, though, a body is discovered--a crusty old race-car mechanic has been killed, and Mick's sister, Linda, the sheriff, begins investigating. Mick agrees to help her deputy, Johnny Boy, with a tricky eviction order--a father is trying to boot his son and the son's wife from the deluxe chicken house in which they've been squatting--and before long the two lawmen have found not only a link to the mechanic's murder, but a second corpse. Immediately thereafter, Linda gets into harm's way...and with her out of action, Mick is sucked back into investigative work and given a field promotion to temporary deputy. What ensues involves cockfighting, rattlesnake-milking, a perilous trip to Detroit (and to "Ypsitucky" beyond it), and in the end Mick once again has to negotiate both the code of the hills (a reference in this case to the tradition of honor- or vengeance-killing) and the murky and tangled ethics that come into play when a law enforcer values justice above the letter of the law. Offutt once again beautifully captures both the roughness and the generosity of the inhabitants of Rocksalt, both the menace and the beauty of the eastern Kentucky landscape. The dialogue is a highlight, consistently sharp, quick, and funny; in that, Offutt is rapidly becoming a rural-noir rival to greats like Elmore Leonard. Another love letter to Appalachia with a high body count. Another bloody delight.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from March 1, 2023

After 20 years in the army, Mick Hardin retires and returns home to Rocksalt, KY, where his sister, Linda, is the sheriff. Something odd is going on in the community. Two men are found dead, killed by shotguns, and the only connection the sheriff's department can find is cockfighting. When Linda approaches an isolated house in the hills, she hears yelling, a gunshot, and then she is critically wounded. Her deputy, Johnny Boy, realizing Mick has more experience in criminal investigations than he does, deputizes Mick--despite a conflict of interest. Mick may have more experience, but he and Johnny Boy share an instinct for vengeance, bred into them by the code of the hills, to take care of family and community. Mick heads to Detroit, following a possible witness to Linda's shooting. But it's Johnny Boy's recognition of a figure from the past, which reminds them both that what is lawful isn't always justice, especially in the hills. VERDICT The writing in the follow-up to Shifty's Boys is as beautifully descriptive of the scenes in Detroit as in the Kentucky hills. Offutt's Mick Hardin novels are powerful books that feature characters with questionable ethics.--Lesa Holstine

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.