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A review by alexcarbonneau
High White Sun by J. Todd Scott
5.0
J Todd Scott isn't just playing a part in the Modern Western genre.
He owns it.
He could take anyone to a standoff and get out of it walking tall while the competition bites the dust.
He is a born storyteller who will never know the meaning of Sophomore Slump. In his second novel, Scott once again shows he's a force to be reckoned with when it comes to entangling a spiderweb of intrigues and slowly connecting the dots, only to finish the reader with a punch in the gut sensation. Like the jacket cover says: Welcome back to the Big Bend.
Although High White Sun is the sequel to The Far Empty, it has a personality of its own. A feel that its predecessor didn't have. With TFE, I felt like Scott focused on the characters first, whereas in HWS, the reader can almost feel like he's part of every dark and dusty corner of Murfee and the Big Bend. Scott achieved what few can where he managed to make the setting of his novel a stand-alone character as important as Chris or Amé, making the story even richer and managing to have the reader feel rooted in that God forsaken place.
The real-life experience of Scott as a DEA agent lives through the pages of High White Sun as he takes the reader inside a bound to crash Sheriff's office loaded with newbies and the occasional vet who try their hands at an ABT biker crew and a White Supremacist wannabe preacher. Meanwhile, the fifteen-year-old murder of a police officer is about to be avenged and of course, everything is connected.
A Molotov cocktail mix that can only end in blood, or more blood.
Sangre exige sangre.
Scott's prose is lyrical and flows like a river at thaw, yet he also manages to pack the almost 500 page novel with enough action sequences to make sure the reader feels every gunshot, every explosion, every punch. Just like he was under the baking sun of Murfee, TX.
With High White Sun, Scott sets the bar high for anyone willing to try his hands at the modern western genre, let alone a series.
The table is set for what I hope will be a long Big Bend series and the challenge will now reside in coming up with something as good as this one.
La perfección exige la perfección
He owns it.
He could take anyone to a standoff and get out of it walking tall while the competition bites the dust.
He is a born storyteller who will never know the meaning of Sophomore Slump. In his second novel, Scott once again shows he's a force to be reckoned with when it comes to entangling a spiderweb of intrigues and slowly connecting the dots, only to finish the reader with a punch in the gut sensation. Like the jacket cover says: Welcome back to the Big Bend.
Although High White Sun is the sequel to The Far Empty, it has a personality of its own. A feel that its predecessor didn't have. With TFE, I felt like Scott focused on the characters first, whereas in HWS, the reader can almost feel like he's part of every dark and dusty corner of Murfee and the Big Bend. Scott achieved what few can where he managed to make the setting of his novel a stand-alone character as important as Chris or Amé, making the story even richer and managing to have the reader feel rooted in that God forsaken place.
The real-life experience of Scott as a DEA agent lives through the pages of High White Sun as he takes the reader inside a bound to crash Sheriff's office loaded with newbies and the occasional vet who try their hands at an ABT biker crew and a White Supremacist wannabe preacher. Meanwhile, the fifteen-year-old murder of a police officer is about to be avenged and of course, everything is connected.
A Molotov cocktail mix that can only end in blood, or more blood.
Sangre exige sangre.
Scott's prose is lyrical and flows like a river at thaw, yet he also manages to pack the almost 500 page novel with enough action sequences to make sure the reader feels every gunshot, every explosion, every punch. Just like he was under the baking sun of Murfee, TX.
With High White Sun, Scott sets the bar high for anyone willing to try his hands at the modern western genre, let alone a series.
The table is set for what I hope will be a long Big Bend series and the challenge will now reside in coming up with something as good as this one.
La perfección exige la perfección