Published in 1999
The Players:
Two convicts, one E-V-I-L personified, the other a sad mental deficient, break out of prison and go on a vicious crime spree.
The slightly smarter brother of E-V-I-L, who joins in on the crimefest.
A small-town sheriff forced to retire, obsessed with the case he couldn't solve thirty years ago.
A gruff rancher who harbors a secret love for his widowed daughter-in-law.
Said daughter-in-law, a beautiful deaf woman, accomplished and self-sufficient, who has put her ambitions on hold and with her five year old son remains at the ranch from a sense of duty.
A rugged drifter with painful secrets
A slick banker who covets the rancher's land
Stereotypical characters aside, this is a suspenseful thriller with graphic violence and sex, remorseless cruelty and murder aplenty. Amidst the mayhem a tender love story emerges.
I had a slight problem with Brown's tendency to insert comprehensive past histories of minor characters, and the two-steps-forward-one-back approach as movement halts to detail a character's morning. Did some skimming, which is a shame as the book is well written.
And I can't define why, but I felt the drifter's big secret was, for want of a better word, bogus.
Conclusion: Not for the gentle reader. Stock characters in stock situations, redeemed by Brown's powerful writing.
--Cat
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