Tuesday, August 30, 2016

THE FORSAKEN by Ace Atkins

© by Gerald So | geraldso.blogspot.com | 6:30 A.M.

Before leaving on Thursday for about three weeks on the road winding up at Bouchercon, September 15–18 in New Orleans, I finished reading Ace Atkins' fourth Quinn Colson novel.

Diane Tull, the survivor of a 1977 kidnap attempt during which her best friend was killed, decides to come forward with new information. She tells Sheriff Colson that the black man lynched for the crime was not the real culprit.

Coming to terms with the past is a larger theme of the Colson series, which began with Quinn returning to his hometown for his uncle's funeral in The Ranger. The Forsaken delves most deeply into the past, teasing out history that relates not just to Diane, but to Quinn and town kingpin Johnny Stagg.

Atkins has kept a good handle on the series as it's progressed. Each story is memorable on its own, but also foreshadows future stories. I have the fifth and sixth Colson novels—The Redeemers and The Innocents—but am saving them for after my trip because packing hardcovers isn't packing light.

1 comment:

Steve Oerkfitz said...

Reading this right now. Loved his earlier books but somehow avoided the Ranger series and am now just catching up. Read the first of his Spensers and enjoyed that too.