Scan barcode
bryr's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
flamyjamiee's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
judithdcollins's review against another edition
4.0
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
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
ericbuscemi's review against another edition
2.0
I've been a big fan of this author and this series since the beginning, but this entry just meandered aimlessly and never went anywhere interesting. I abandoned it more than halfway through in favor of other more interesting things.
jshel10's review against another edition
5.0
I've said this before about the Colson books, but for my money, this series is the best thing going in crime fiction right now. Every book is different, yet rooted in the same area with the characters that bring Mississippi to life. The crimes in this book veer to a much darker place than in some of the earlier books and the plot masterfully unravels the truth. The ending finds Colson once again at a crossroads in his own life and the best part is that we have no idea what it will be like the next time we see him.
alexcarbonneau's review against another edition
4.0
Everybody needs a little Quinn Colson, Tibbehah County and Ace Atkins in their lives once in a while.
This is number 6 in the series and I move to rename the thing to the Tibbehah County Series instead of the Quinn Colson Series.
This modern western saga is so much more than a single MC, especially this iteration where Atkins finally centered it a bit more around Lily Virgil. It was refreshing to have her point of view. Virgil definitely has the strengh and complexity to get her own novel.
Tibbehah affectionados : this one follows the same recipe and even though you won't re-evaluate your life priorities after reading it, it is still damn good southern grit-lit and it sure is nice to renew with this universe.
Bonus points. Is it just me or Atkins got a bit more litterate on this one than his writing was in the previous Colson novels ?
This is number 6 in the series and I move to rename the thing to the Tibbehah County Series instead of the Quinn Colson Series.
This modern western saga is so much more than a single MC, especially this iteration where Atkins finally centered it a bit more around Lily Virgil. It was refreshing to have her point of view. Virgil definitely has the strengh and complexity to get her own novel.
Tibbehah affectionados : this one follows the same recipe and even though you won't re-evaluate your life priorities after reading it, it is still damn good southern grit-lit and it sure is nice to renew with this universe.
Bonus points. Is it just me or Atkins got a bit more litterate on this one than his writing was in the previous Colson novels ?
billmorrow's review against another edition
2.0
This one didn't work for me. Being the sixth book in a series, you'd expect some history and backstory to be included. You'd also expect to be clued in as to what that history is. That didn't happen here. There were subplots weaving through the book that appear to set the stage for something in a future book but did little to advance the main plot.
The main crime didn't take place until about a third of the way through the book. Not too many chapters later, it's fairly obvious who done it and why. The only suspense comes from how the perp will get caught.
Ace Atkins is a competent writer but his use of pop culture references to set a scene is frustrating. If you don't know the movie, show, or song, the feeling or mood he tries to convey gets lost. It becomes filler and there was far too much filler in this otherwise good book.
The main crime didn't take place until about a third of the way through the book. Not too many chapters later, it's fairly obvious who done it and why. The only suspense comes from how the perp will get caught.
Ace Atkins is a competent writer but his use of pop culture references to set a scene is frustrating. If you don't know the movie, show, or song, the feeling or mood he tries to convey gets lost. It becomes filler and there was far too much filler in this otherwise good book.
tjarmstrong's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
usbsticky's review against another edition
1.0
By GoodReads rating system, 1 star = I didn't like it. This wasn't necessarily a bad book, I just didn't like it.
This book to me is The Dukes of Hazzard in book form. The characters act and speak like characters in the Dukes of Hazzard and the text is written like a script from that series as well. Just not my cup of tea. I got this book free as a review copy.
This book to me is The Dukes of Hazzard in book form. The characters act and speak like characters in the Dukes of Hazzard and the text is written like a script from that series as well. Just not my cup of tea. I got this book free as a review copy.
kingfan30's review against another edition
2.0
Starting with a new author mid-series probably wasn’t the best idea. There seemed to be a lot of characters to get my head round and obviously back stories that I don’t know about. The mystery itself didn’t really get going until quite a way into the story. The characters seems quite backwards in their actions and racism seems quite rife, I don’t know how true this is of the area. Once the crime had been committed I worked out who done it quite quickly, not sure I would read more from this series.