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rclz's review against another edition
4.0
Good book. He gets a little in the weeds at times but still an interesting read. Good plot and characters.
ericwelch's review against another edition
4.0
Recipe for a great story:
Donald Harstad mixes the following ingredients:
1. Carl Houseman, a Nation County, Iowa, deputy sheriff and chief homicide investigator.
2. Some guys dressed like Navy Seals who kill a cop, a bad guy, and a state narcotics agent in the woods near​ a marijuana patch.
3. A local farmer who has mortgaged his farms and those of his children to a company that insists gold is the only "real" currency and investing in their stash in South America bring great riches when the U.S. collapses and the Belgian troops (All 10 of them? asks Houseman) of the U.N. take over zone 5. And by the way, these guys will happily take your personal check for the phantom gold.
4. A shoot-out at the farmer's place which kills a local reporter who had been asked to come in and hear the plight of the insurgents.
5. Hester, a nifty Iowa Bureau of Investigation agent.
6. Carl's self-depracating humor.
7. A substantial dose of realism.
8. Jurisdictional gerrymandering.
9. A shipment of stolen RPG's. (The scene where one idiot tries to take out a jail wall by shooting the thing off in his car is pretty funny.)
The result is another really good county police procedural. Harstad makes several very important observations about the luncacy of the far right extremeists. I suspect he speaks from experience, having been an Iowa deputy sheriff for many years. This is the second in the series. As usual I read a couple out of order. I recommend reading this title before The Big Thaw.
Well read by Ron McClarty
Donald Harstad mixes the following ingredients:
1. Carl Houseman, a Nation County, Iowa, deputy sheriff and chief homicide investigator.
2. Some guys dressed like Navy Seals who kill a cop, a bad guy, and a state narcotics agent in the woods near​ a marijuana patch.
3. A local farmer who has mortgaged his farms and those of his children to a company that insists gold is the only "real" currency and investing in their stash in South America bring great riches when the U.S. collapses and the Belgian troops (All 10 of them? asks Houseman) of the U.N. take over zone 5. And by the way, these guys will happily take your personal check for the phantom gold.
4. A shoot-out at the farmer's place which kills a local reporter who had been asked to come in and hear the plight of the insurgents.
5. Hester, a nifty Iowa Bureau of Investigation agent.
6. Carl's self-depracating humor.
7. A substantial dose of realism.
8. Jurisdictional gerrymandering.
9. A shipment of stolen RPG's. (The scene where one idiot tries to take out a jail wall by shooting the thing off in his car is pretty funny.)
The result is another really good county police procedural. Harstad makes several very important observations about the luncacy of the far right extremeists. I suspect he speaks from experience, having been an Iowa deputy sheriff for many years. This is the second in the series. As usual I read a couple out of order. I recommend reading this title before The Big Thaw.
Well read by Ron McClarty
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