e-Audio, 13:05:52
Narrated by: Adam Lazarre-White
Release Date: June 6, 2023
Published by: Books on Tape
Read from: June 11-12, 2023
Stand-alone
Source: Libro FM
TW: Death, Murder, Racism, Child Death, School Shooting, Kidnapping, Torture, Racial Slurs, Sexual Assault, Religious Bigotry, Panic Attacks/Disorders
For Readers Interested In: Thrillers, Mysteries, Dark, Crime, Adult, Racial/Ethnic DiversityTitus Crowne is the first Black sheriff in the history of Charon County. A former FBI agent and security expert, Titus came home to take care of his father and look out for his troubled younger brother. He ran for Sheriff to make a difference, especially in the Black community, which has so often been treated unfairly by the police.
But a year to the day after his election, a school shooting rocks the town. A beloved teacher is killed by a former student, and as Titus attempts to deescalate and get the boy to surrender, his deputies fire a fatal shot.
In the investigation, it becomes clear that the student they shot had been abused by the dead teacher, as well as by unidentified perpetrators. The trail leads to buried bodies—and secrets. While Titus tries to track down a killer hiding in plain sight, while balancing daily duties like protecting Confederate pride marchers, he must face what it means to be a Black man wearing a police uniform in the American South.
*This book is part of the adult mystery/thriller genre! I have featured it in The Crime Scene as a way to feature the few
Adult and New Adult titles I am beginning to read in this genre! There’s not much of a difference, however the scenes
may be more graphic and there may be more explicit scenes in some of them.”
*MY THOUGHTS*
I picked this up at TLA (Texas Library Association Conference) because I had heard of this author before but hadn’t read him. And good thing I did because then I saw like 4 to 5 people hyping it up and saying how good it was. And y’all know me……….. I hate being left out lol
So first off let me just say how invested I was in this plot. I couldn’t get my head (ears?) out of this book. It was so realistic. A little scary because I’m sure people would really act like that. Trying to act like he didn’t earn his position even though he was voted into it. And making him feel like what he’s doing wasn’t good enough and so they were going to replace him with someone else. Let me just say, I wanted to throttle everyone and I don’t blame him not one bit for what he did at the end. Although I can’t lie I didn’t want him to. But that’s neither here nor there.
The characters were so good. Even though I guessed who it was, I was so interested in the back stories of them and seeing where they went from there. Like the romance absolutely could have been left out of this, but the way I was so invested in it because I wanted him to have one good thing. But alas it didn’t really matter. Then his family was also very cool too. I had so much fun getting to know his dad! He was hilarious and I could easily envision all the scenes he was in in like real time.
The literal only thing about this that I would change is the ending. It wasn’t bad, it was just like super stacked. OK I know you’re thinking like wtf so let me explain. It was like all the freaking clues he had to help him solve this came out right then. Like he had clues before, but he didn’t know what they meant. It was like he just had a collection of things. But at the end things finally came together and we had no input on it. My favorite thrillers or books about crime are those that make me feel like i can help solve it. When the book is basically all red herrings until the ending when it all the real stuff started coming out. I’m sure this is just a me thing, but I like to feel more involved.
But make no mistake. This book is dark. When things finally start happening, it’s really dark. All the things that happened made me sad, mad, enraged, and I was biting all my nails off scared at what was to come because of what was already happening and what was to come. The Black kids going missing in this book was crushing my heart and it felt so real. So please be mindful of your trigger warnings.
This book made me want to read his entire backlist. I already have one of them on hold. Someone already told me the backlist is also good. I can’t wait to get lost in more of his words.
Overall, I give this
