High White Sun

January 15, 2018
A gripping tale of murder and revenge written by a former Drug Enforcement Administration agent and author of The Far Empty (2016).In 1999, Texas Ranger Bob Ford was murdered in West Texas. Fifteen years later, his son Danny prepares to find his father's killer. Today, there's a whole lot more killing in Big Bend County, where sangre exige sangre--blood demands blood. Sheriff Chris Cherry and his deputies investigate the murder of river guide Billy Bravo, whose body is found in the desert with a crushed skull. They suspect the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, a "one hundred percent bad" prison gang that aims to establish its own "all-Aryan settlement" in the tiny, well-named ghost town of Killing. The members are covered in tattoos that "tell stories," and the only way you ever leave ABT is "in a body bag." Deputies Ame Reynosa and Ben Harper are on Cherry's dedicated team, and readers had better not get too attached to any of them, as they don't back away from a good gunfight. The story is grim, but the descriptions and the characters are exceptional. One person's eyes are "the color of a cold sky threatening snow" while another's are "flat like a TV tuned to a lost channel." Ame weaves Spanish phrases into her speech, often but not always translated. "Lo que sea. They might as well be." John Wesley Earl is the gang leader who thinks nothing of betraying his followers, even his own contemptible sons. "Pastor" Thurman Flowers' Church of Purity "preaches hate and terror and violence." Danny Ford, who narrates his chapters in the first-person, was in law enforcement until he disappeared into the ABT on his personal search for justice. Not surprisingly, the blood flows freely until nearly the end.Tense, brutal, and satisfying for thriller fans.

COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from January 22, 2018
Scott’s superb sequel to 2016’s The Far Empty combines multifaceted characters with edge-of-the-seat suspense. The savage bludgeoning of river guide Billy Bravo, which obliterated part of his face, leads Texas sheriff Chris Cherry’s deputies—veteran Ben Harper and rookie Amé Reynosa—to confront John Wesley Earl, a leader of a vicious prison gang, the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas. Their efforts to find proof linking the ABT to the murder are derailed by a surprising revelation from an FBI agent, making Chris’s pursuit of justice even harder. The reverberations of the brutal 1999 murder of Texas Ranger Bob Ford also affect the homicide investigation. Scott excels at presenting the juxtaposition of the horrific and the mundane (“Her daddy had died on a stretch of dirty concrete ten steps from her window, and afterward cops came and got the body and took some pictures and tossed their cigarette butts on the place where he’d drawn his last breath, leaving behind only a yellow chalk outline”). Ace Atkins fans will relish this gritty crime novel. Author tour. Agent: Carlie Webber, CK Webber Associates.

March 15, 2018

Shortly after the death of corrupt Sheriff Stanford Ross, his successor, Chris Cherry, cannot escape Ross's shadow. He struggles to get his department on board with the changes he made by recruiting new deputies such as America Reynosa, a Latina, and veteran lawman Ben Harper, who struggles with the limitations of the law. As Cherry begins to build camaraderie among his staff, a river guide is murdered. At the same time, John Wesley Earl and Thurman Flowers seek to form a chapter of the Aryan White Brotherhood in Big Bend County--Cherry's jurisdiction. Before Cherry, Ben, and America realize it, they are drawn into a vendetta that began with a murder of a Texas Ranger 20 years earlier and now can only be settled on the streets of Murfee, TX. VERDICT Scott (Far Empty) delivers an impressive noir thriller in his sophomore outing. Fans of Craig Johnson will enjoy the tight-knit plot, while admirers of David Joy's Southern country noir will appreciate the strong and vivid description of West Texas. [See Prepub Alert, 9/25/17.]--Russell Michalak, Goldey-Beacom Coll. Lib., Wilmington, DE

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2018
Chris Cherry, a mere 26, is the new sheriff of Big Bend County in West Texas, following the death of Stanford Rossas corrupt a good old boy as ever was. Not a lot of jockeying for Ross' job, what with Big Bend sitting at the intersection of the drug cartels and the Aryan Brotherhood. Chris attempts to escape the bent legacy of his predecessor by hiring untainted America Reynosa, a novice with smarts, guts, and a temper, along with Ben Harper, a seasoned officer with a growing drinking problem. Things get nasty after a Rio Grande guide is murdered, and the investigation is stalled by a sketchy federal agent. Meanwhile, John Wesley Earl, of the Aryan Brotherhood, intends to plant roots in Big Bend. Throw in the omnipresent drug cartels and a man seeking to avenge the death of his Texas Ranger father, and you have a white-hot cauldron ready to boil over. Scott, a 20-year veteran with the DEA, knows the milieu well, and he follows the first Big Bend novel, The Far Empty (2016), with an equally strong successor. Get this series on your radar now.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)