Code of the hills

After two decades, Mick Hardin's career in the U.S. Army is finally coming to an end. This is his last day, as a matter of fact. After 20 years, most of them as an investigator in the Criminal Investigation Division, he's out. His plan is to move to France, see what happens next. But first, back home, briefly, in Rocksalt, Kentucky, he finds that his sister, the town sheriff, is dealing with a pair of murders. When she's sidelined, Mick is quickly deputized. In Offutt's third Hardin title, following The Killing Hills (2021) and Shifty's Boys (2022), Mick continues to be a wonderful character--strong, resilient, compassionate--and here we see him very much in family-man mode, a man who is deeply concerned for his sister but also a man who values a close-knit community. Offutt is from Kentucky and often writes about it. Here, Rocksalt is as much a character as its people, and the author writes about them all with the kind of intimacy and perceptiveness that comes from a long and ardently observant association. More Mick Hardin stories, please.

After 20 years in the army, Mick Hardin retires and returns home to Rocksalt, KY, where his sister, Linda, is the sheriff. Something odd is going on in the community. Two men are found dead, killed by shotguns, and the only connection the sheriff's department can find is cockfighting. When Linda approaches an isolated house in the hills, she hears yelling, a gunshot, and then she is critically wounded. Her deputy, Johnny Boy, realizing Mick has more experience in criminal investigations than he does, deputizes Mick--despite a conflict of interest. Mick may have more experience, but he and Johnny Boy share an instinct for vengeance, bred into them by the code of the hills, to take care of family and community. Mick heads to Detroit, following a possible witness to Linda's shooting. But it's Johnny Boy's recognition of a figure from the past, which reminds them both that what is lawful isn't always justice, especially in the hills. VERDICT The writing in the follow-up to Shifty's Boys is as beautifully descriptive of the scenes in Detroit as in the Kentucky hills. Offutt's Mick Hardin novels are powerful books that feature characters with questionable ethics.--Lesa Holstine

Excellent Kentucky noir--Offutt's third Mick Hardin novel is the best yet. Mick, a veteran Army investigator, has finally mustered out after 20 years of service, and he's headed home to Rocksalt for a quick last look and goodbye before he retires (or exiles himself) to Corsica. Just as he arrives home, though, a body is discovered--a crusty old race-car mechanic has been killed, and Mick's sister, Linda, the sheriff, begins investigating. Mick agrees to help her deputy, Johnny Boy, with a tricky eviction order--a father is trying to boot his son and the son's wife from the deluxe chicken house in which they've been squatting--and before long the two lawmen have found not only a link to the mechanic's murder, but a second corpse. Immediately thereafter, Linda gets into harm's way...and with her out of action, Mick is sucked back into investigative work and given a field promotion to temporary deputy. What ensues involves cockfighting, rattlesnake-milking, a perilous trip to Detroit (and to "Ypsitucky" beyond it), and in the end Mick once again has to negotiate both the code of the hills (a reference in this case to the tradition of honor- or vengeance-killing) and the murky and tangled ethics that come into play when a law enforcer values justice above the letter of the law. Offutt once again beautifully captures both the roughness and the generosity of the inhabitants of Rocksalt, both the menace and the beauty of the eastern Kentucky landscape. The dialogue is a highlight, consistently sharp, quick, and funny; in that, Offutt is rapidly becoming a rural-noir rival to greats like Elmore Leonard. Another love letter to Appalachia with a high body count. Another bloody delight. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.