This book and I turned out not to be a good match, and I made the executive decision to stop reading (at 26%) today. Because there's so much else to read, not to mention I'm a slow reader, and wasting my time reading something I don't enjoy is dumb. My only regret is that I bought the book, so it feels like I am wasting money.

I read the sample before purchasing and was mostly intrigued by a protagonist's experiment watching the same film a crazy amount of times in a few days. I love film, and the idea of reading about (fictional) female filmmakers was exciting. But at a quarter of the way in, with three main characters introduced, I couldn't get a feel for what the book was about, its narrative thrust. I also didn't care enough about the characters to keep going, and the prose could feel like cliches wrapped in pretentious prose.

DNFing is painful, but it's time to move on!

"I never met this girl or knew her family," [Ophelia] said. "But, holy shit, this is a horror among horrors. I try to not focus on Old Testament stuff. But . . . I hope there's some revenge out there somewhere. I don't know if there's another way to make it right."

 

"You can't make shit like this right," Quinn said.

But before we get to the horror, we get one of the funniest openings that Tibbehah County has given us -- a meth-head steals a shotgun and a four-wheeler, and is apprehended by the acting Sheriff, Lillie Virgil(!!), in a very effective, but not that orthodox a manner. And then, of course, after Atkins gets you chuckling he introduces you to the murder victim. It's not unheard of in a crime novel, but we spent a decent amount of time getting to know her before she died in one the worst ways I remember reading. Reading as many Detective/Crime/etc novels as I do, I've read some evil way s to kill some one, and some really sick things -- see Val McDermid, Thomas Harris, Stieg Larsson --but this ranks up there with the worst. And it felt real, like something that could happen down the road, not the victim of diseased mind like the psychos those listed above write about. In fact, Ophelia Bundren, the coroner (who, incidentally has some of the best lines in the book -- and not just what was quoted above) spoke for just about everyone in the county there (including some of the least-upstanding members of the community who will echo her). It's a good thing that Tibbehah County has their most capable law enforcement officer in forever at the helm (and she hires a certain former Sheriff as temporary help).

It took no time at all to know how did it (or at least who was largely responsible) -- actually, pretty sure I'd identified the perpetrator and the motive before the killing -- but that didn't stop this from being one of Atkins' most compelling crime stories.

Along with all that, there are plenty of other goings on . . .

Lillie Virgil is acting as Sheriff, and isn't dealing well with the politics. She deals well with the policing, but that's it -- between being a woman, having almost no people skills and not backing down when people want her to, things aren't going too well for her. Which is a shame, still, it's nice to see her in the spotlight.

Johnny Stagg's in federal prison, and learning just who his friends are. Not surprisingly, there are fewer than he's used to. Someone else has taken over the Booby Trap, given it a better name (finally!) and a make over. All in all, it's a better class of strip club and the owner appears slightly less despicable.

Jason Colson has a new pipe dream and he looks to be sucking Quinn into helping out -- honestly, my patience with this character is pretty low -- I think the only person in the world who likes him less is Quinn's mother, Jason's ex. He's not as destructive a force as the storm that just about wiped out the town a couple of years ago, but it's a close race.

And things with Anna Lee are in a pivotal spot. That's enough about that.

Quinn's still in that same period of decision after losing the election a year or so ago -- the man needs a little direction in his life and hopefully he gets it soon.

The power of small-town High School football, convenient racism, small town crime, Real World Evil, friendship, and personal history -- as usual, Atkins brings it all and delivers it with skill, charm and aplomb. I thoroughly enjoyed this trip to Mississippi and look forward to my next trip there.

A special thank you to Penguin and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ace Atkins returns following The Redeemers (2015) to the Deep South with popular dark and gritty Quinn Colson #6 series THE INNOCENTS -highly controversial with an array of violent crimes exposed, in the underbelly of Jericho, Mississippi in Tibbehah County.

Does anyone ever escape Mississippi?

Working with Lillie Virgil, the first woman sheriff in the state, Quinn Colson and others sort through a web of intrigue and dark secrets, trying to bring justice to the town of Jericho. No easy task where there is more bad than good.

After a stint in Afghanistan where he trained local police, complex war-hero Quinn Colson returns to his hometown to help his former colleague and becomes a deputy.

Quinn Colson is still trying to work things out with his high school sweetheart, who’s taken her child and left her husband. Quinn’s father, Jason, a former Hollywood stuntman absent for most of his son's childhood, is back with a moneymaking land scheme that involves Johnnie Stagg, we met in the last book, now in prison.

We also catch up with Fannie, a strip club owner, from meth addicts, drug dealers, dirty politics, a self-righteous preacher, Elvis lovers, motorcycle biker gangs, wine boxes, Wally World, truck stops, molestation, racism, football, drug pins, a young girl turned stripper set on fire, and a beloved high school football hero Coach Bud Miles with secrets… all from the Bible belt.

Plus, a strained relationship between risk taker father Jason and son, Quinn.

There are several different plots, one being Milly Jones, local teenage, age eighteen, former cheerleader who writes in her journals. Secrets the town does not know. She wants her brother, Brandon’s suicide story told, making her way to Tupelo to meet an author, with high hopes.

From her dad’s meth time in jail, her mom and dad’s divorce, and her dad’s fat girlfriend, plus all her other issues. This town has secrets. She has to get away, and thinks if she can get to Tupelo to this author, possibly her story can be told. However, the trip to Tupelo to see a Southern Christian Romance author, was useless, and all the author wanted was $30 for the book, and then there was gas money.

Bummed by the disappointment, she makes her way back to the strip club (she has turned to in desperation for money) for her first night on the job at the Vienna Place Strip Club (former Booby Trap).. It is time for the pole.

However, she is desperate, and does not want to part with the house cut of the money she earns, and needs to keep it all. She heads out, and would send back the money to Miss Fannie, when she gets back on her feet, talk to her dad about the threats, and get right with Ordeen on the pills to get crazy Reece off her case. She needed breathing room.

As she drives away she wanted to see Joshua and heads North in her old Kia. However, she has car trouble. Twenty minutes later someone comes. She finds her way down the highway on foot, while engulfed in flames. Murdered. Burning flesh. The girl is dead.

A murder that occurs in "The Innocents" has a number of similarities to that of Jessica Chambers. (2014)

Fannie is not happy when Milly robbed her blind. Someone wanted to shut up the girl. She knew too much.

Colson and his boss, Sheriff Lillie Virgil, follow leads that point to a pair of black teenagers, reheating racial tension in a state infamous for racial tension. But the teenage guys have learned the identity of the real killer — and plan to inflict an awful form of punishment.

In the meantime, we have events surrounding the local coach also another related story: Dwight Bowling, former Alabama high school coach in molestation case and plenty of suspects in Milly’s murder, among all the other crimes and crazies. Everyone speculates, suspects, blame, lies, and secrets.

Southern-Gothic noir-crime fiction gets "down and dirty" with corruption, murder, and more ruthless criminals than you can count. Based on real events, a fictional account of some horrific crimes in the Deep South which sends this installment to the "top of the charts."

From eccentric well-developed characters to pitch perfect Southern wit, gritty dialogue, Atkins knows his way around the South. and crosses over to Memphis. With his true southern (Grit-Lit) and his continuation of Robert B. Parker’s Spenser popular series, (Boston) he has proven once again a talented versatile author.

From the atmosphere of Southern good, bad, and ugly, fans will enjoy his latest installment and dying for the next. From rural Mississippi, to gritty urban Boston something for everyone, no matter your taste.

In addition to the digital version, also purchased the audiobook, narrated by Macleod Andrews delivering an engaging performance.

The Innocents,’ A Conversation with Ace Atkins by Mark Rubinstein Huffington Post.

JDCMustReadBooks

#THEINNOCENTS   AVAILABLE 7/12/16  AWESOME READ UNPUTDOWNABLE!  4 STARS!  @aceatkins @putnambooks  Wow, I just sped right through this one. The story was great. Of course, it's Ace Atkins! I thought I knew the killer pretty early, but was I right? Sort of. There are a LOT of bad guys in this story and I mean bad. But what a good story it was, yes I'm saying it again.

This is definitely one you won't be able to put down, so don't start it at bedtime. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes a little mystery with a lot of suspense.

Thanks Putnam & Sons and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review!

I had to remind myself a few many times of the following, while reading this book:

1. Lisa Henry/Cari Waites is a nice person. She warned her readers that this book was         going to be a mind-fuck. She wasn't kidding.
2. The scenes in the book aren't real - this is fictional.
3. The characters aren't real - they're all fictional.
4. It's okay to cry in rage and in fear and in sheer terror.

The characters, the scenes, the terrible things happening in this book aren't real. This is the stuff of nightmares. And when I approached the words on page from that perspective, for a few moments I could pretend it was maybe okay to be oddly fascinated by the horrific happenings inside. That, because this is a work of fiction, it was maybe okay to not recoil at the terror within.

And then I realized that while this book may be fiction, may be just the dark imaginings of a terrific writer, the stories told here do happen. Behind closed doors, in the house next door, in basements hidden from prying eyes, out of desperation, and born from the sick minds of sociopaths and psychopaths - this shit happens.

Human trafficking is a real thing. It's not entirely unfeasible that a compulsive gambler would allow his barely legal son to sell himself to pay the debts, and then pay the price for doing so. It's not completely out of the realm of possibility that a doctor in a mental hospital abuses his patients after dark for his own sexual gratification while keeping them drugged and using his position of power for evil. It's not out of the question that a cuckolded stepfather cooks up a plan to seduce his cheating wife's son to exact his revenge. And snuff films do exist. Young men are taken from their poor families, for one reason or another, to become slaves of rich men, forced to live their short lives in fear, terror, and unimaginable pain, lost in their minds, grateful for the smallest reprieve, completely exposed, exploited, and then discarded like trash.

What the author is doing here is exploring the deepest and darkest of what one could call sexual fantasies, executed by men who seem to have no conscience and feel no guilt. Sex isn't part of a romance, it is power, and love does not exist.

But they aren't fantasies for some people in this world.

This is the stuff of nightmares, but the nightmares are real.

What this book did to me was make me feel dirty, sick to my stomach, and disgusted. But it also made me see the psychology behind the actions of the victims, how Stockholm Syndrome works, how a victim can get lost in his own head when deprived of even the most basic human needs, how a person can take a good hard look at himself and choose the easy way out for fear of his own depravity.

I'm not sure I'm explaining this the way I want to, and I don't want to put anyone off reading this book, because I think it will likely appeal to many of my friends, as long as you understand that what you're feeling while reading is most likely what the author intended you to feel.

And don't forget - while these are fictional characters, and fictional scenes, and fictional outcomes, and this is truly the stuff of nightmares, there are people in this world for whom this isn't fictional at all. There are people for whom the terror and the fear and the pain are very real, indeed.

Which hopefully explains my reluctance to rate this book. On one hand, I want to decry it for creating a fantasy out of real life, of exploiting, for entertainment purposes, the sick and horrifying things people do to other people. And on the other hand, I want to laud this author for the exquisite writing skills displayed here, for her unflinching look at the depravity that exists within the human race, and for making me question some of my reactions to what I was reading.

So, no rating. Heed the author's warning. The stories within are one complete mind-fuck after another, and she wasn't kidding when she told us that. There are no happy endings here, in any of the 4 short stories in this book, and love is at best a delusion. There was only one story that made me feel that it ended sort of on a good note, and that was the story of David, the stepfather who 'seduces' his wife's barely legal, virginal son. A good note, albeit only if you "tilt your head and squint".


** I received a free copy of this book from its publisher via Netgalley. A positive review was not promised in return. **