Dead Man Dancing: A Novel

Bad Axe County #2

by John Galligan

In this sequel to the “gritty, brash, and totally gripping” (The Real Book Spy) thriller Bad Axe County, Sheriff Heidi Kick is investigating an illicit cage fighting ring with ties to white nationalism when her husband suddenly goes missing.

It’s a time for celebration in Bad Axe County as the town gathers for the annual Syttende Mai—or Norwegian Independence Day—festival. During this rollicking family-oriented event filled with dancing and food, Sheriff Heidi Kick discovers a dark and shocking event—a migrant worker has been savagely beaten but refuses to explain what happened. Then, a sudden murder of a band member shatters the festival. Something is deeply wrong in Bad Axe County.

As she looks for answers, Heidi plunges into a secret underworld where high-stakes cage fights double as combat training for the White Nationalist movement. Then all hell breaks loose for Heidi when her husband disappears and a secret he’s been keeping from Heidi is revealed.

A timely portrait of the deep divisions and simmering tensions brewing in our country today, Dead Man Dancing takes you into the dark heart of a movement defined by violence and hate. Featuring John Galligan’s signature “striking prose, engaging characters” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), and unforgettable twists and turns, Dead Man Dancing is a breathless thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Genres: Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Thriller, Audiobook, Fiction

304 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 11, 2020

About the author

John Galligan,in addition to being a novelist and teacher, John has worked as a newspaper journalist, feature-film screenwriter, house painter, au pair, ESL teacher, cab driver, and freezer boy in a salmon cannery. He currently teaches writing at Madison Area Technical College, where his experience is enriched by students from every corner of the local and world community.

Series:
* Fly Fishing Mystery

Reviews

[Pat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Trigger warning: ugly racial violence.

This is a hard review for me to write.and I am aware that many people rated the book quite highly. However, I can only write about my experience reading the book and my reviews are always straight down the line. I read a lot of dark books but somehow they feel quite ‘fictional’ which of course they are. This, too, is a work of fiction but to me it felt more real which made it very disturbing for me. The book was extremely bleak, and filled with examples of ugly racial violence, sexism, and far right anarchy. I did not like it, I found much of the content sickening.

My first thought was it must be well written fiction to have that reaction with me and to some extent it was. On the other hand the start of the book was very messy and it was hard to keep track of what was happening and of all the characters with their unusual names. And while I am no fan of far right movements I struggle to believe that their membership is as universally dumb as depicted in the book. In other words the characters were very cliched, even the female Sheriff, the corrupt deputy, the ditzy old people and the token half African American, named Neon (seriously?) seemed too good to be true.

So - what is the story about? Sheriff Heidi Kick from Bad Axe County in Wisconsin gets a really bad feeling in the lead up to the local corn festival. She suspects a far right group is planning to disrupt the march. There have been recent incidents of racial violence and an old man is killed to stop a book he recently published on local history from seeing the light of day. The Sheriff is also brutally attacked. And a bigwig white supremacist is coming to town to stir up trouble. Into this mix rides young Neon Shivers on his his bright yellow motorbike to find out more about his great grandmother. The fuse is primed, the slightest spark will set the whole thing off. BOOM! I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Tucker · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Galligan’s debut novel “Bad Axe County” was one of the best crime fiction debuts I read in 2019 and there is no sophomore slump with his newest book “Dead Man Dancing.” Heidi Kick has been elected sheriff of Bad Axe County, a rural area of Wisconsin. Although Kick is a country sheriff living in a small town called Farmstead, there is no exemption from dealing with the same crimes that are currently ravaging our country; the rise in white supremacy and violence. “Dead Man Dancing” is dark, gritty, and emotional. It’s also very timely and exceptionally well-written. Galligan continues to excel at character development and suspenseful plotting, and readers will be rooting for the sheriff to really Kick some Bad Axe. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist!)

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

[Andreas Tornberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dark, gritty and gripping, love this series.

[Ti.Me · Rating 2 out of 5]

Black emotional pain, white supremacy and childhood gender confusion all converge in ridiculous fashion on Bad Axe County.

Series - ruined.

DNF. Abandoned at 57%

[Kristine Lendved · Rating 4 out of 5]

I kinda missed the 8/2020 publication of the second in John Galligan's Bad Axe County series. I had read and liked BAD AXE COUNTY, but, as a huge fan of Galligan's fly-fishing mystery series, BAD AXE COUNTY felt, to me, a bit as though he were targeting a more commercial effort. I take that all back with DEAD MAN DANCING. Here is all that I so loved about the fly-fishing series; the skillful descriptions of the landscape, the deft characterizations of the people who inhabit it...AND a heart-pounding, page turning thriller that...well, I did have things to do last weekend, but, they'll still be there next weekend. (unless I encounter another title so engaging!) Plus, in this, Galligan takes on a lot. It is a fierce and unflinching look at the "culture" of white, small-town Wisconsin, so convinced of its own goodness that it cannot imagine that it could be...racist.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second book in this series continues to portray rural Bad Axe County as a hotbed of criminal activity, but instead of drug dealers and sex traffickers, there is now a violent gang of white supremacists intent on wreaking havoc. Sheriff Heidi Kick manages to be the focus of the gang’s wrath and, as in the first book, she takes a physical and emotional beating, this time surpassed only by the cruelty inflicted on minorities and their supporters. The author adds some content about sexual identity issues to boot. I found the story a little overblown and not as focused or engaging as the series debut but still found it a good enough read to give the next book a try.

[Luanne Ollivier]

Dead Man Dancing is John Galligan's follow up to last year's intro to Bad Axe County - and Sheriff Heidi Kick. If you're a 'grit-lit' fan, you're going to enjoy this series.

The underbelly of Bad Axe County is a scary place. Kick is determined to clean up the town, but she's got her work cut out. White supremacists think the town is just ripe for their attention - as do a number of the residents. Beatings of migrant workers and the murder of a local author have Heidi working twenty four seven. And then her husband Harley goes missing...

Galligan's prose are definitely dark and gritty. The book hums with undercurrents of hate and danger that are not just an author's imaginings. Instead they are real and present day events.

Heidi doesn't hesitate to wade into the fray. I think bad a** when I think of Sheriff Kick. Her calm approach is much more effective as she tries to deal with the corruption in the department and the lack of support from the town council in addition to the crime. Now, that's not to say she's a pushover. Far from it.

Neon, a young Black man is in Bad Axe County tracing his ancestry. He is given a voice in the book as well. His timeline runs parallel to Heidi's investigation - and the listener can only hope what might happen - doesn't.

The plotting is very good. There's a lot going on and I wondered how things would tie in together by the end. The reader is privy to more information than the Sheriff and can only hope she puts the pieces together before it's too late.

Bad Axe County isn't somewhere I'd stop - to me, it says keep on driving. But.....I'll be back for the next entry in this series for sure!

I chose to listen to Dead Man Dancing. Much of that is down to the reader. Samantha Desz read the first book and this follow up. I appreciate the continuity. Desz's voice is perfect for this character. It has a nice gravelly tone, is clear and is easy to understand. Her tone completely matched the mental image I've created for Heidi. She rarely raises her voice which is right for this character. The calm way of speaking belies her determination. It's well paced, never rushed and perfectly modulated. The voices employed for other characters are really good as well, especially the 'baddies'.

Gentle listeners - this one may not be for you - there are a number of trigger situations.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sheriff Heidi Kick, aka Dairy Queen, deals with white supremacy in Bad Axe County. It’s a slimy undercurrent that the county commission doesn’t want to acknowledge and they ignore her professional recommendations for dealing with it. A beloved retired principal is murdered before the release of his self published book on the round barns of the area that were designed by freedmen. There was a community of African Americans but they were driven out in the 1960’s. Outside agitators are coming to town for an annual festival to march. Meanwhile the sheriff’s brother in-law is actively involved with the white power movement, Latino ag workers are being assaulted, her daughter might be a trans child, her husband could be having an affair, and an African American motorcyclist from Milwaukee shows up to look for a family farm. Lots going on. Body count escalates. Heidi begins to doubt herself but refuses to break even after having acid tossed on her. One tough sheriff. Love this series.

[Larry Fontenot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mr. Galligan has been busy since I read the first in this series. So I'm catching up with the second entry. Be warned: this book contains a "bag of assholes" as described by one of the nastier characters. The Sheriff has her hands full with a bunch of bad guys infiltrating her domain and the annual festival honoring the town's Norwegian heritage. She also has a rebellious daughter question her sexuality. By the time she is confronted with personal attacks and a kidnapping scheme, she is ready to shoot them all! And she should (well, not the kids, of course)! Love the character of Sheriff Heidi Flick and her family.

[mleriksson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lite omständig plot kanske där hela slavhistorirn och rightwing-extremister skulle in, och jag hängde nog inte riktigt med i alla turer i upplösningen, men jag gillar settingen, sheriff Kick och hennes familj.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely love this series. Heidi Kick is the heroine everyone needs.

[Bob Box · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second book in the Bad Axe series was a letdown. Jumbled plot, too many superfluous characters and an ineffective and conflicted protagonist. Goodbye Bad Axe.

[Cathy Cole · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Dead Man Dancing, John Galligan has once again found the perfect mix of characters, setting, story, and action to keep me absorbed from first page to last. These harder-edged Bad Axe County books show how no part of the country is safe from crime-- even rural areas with rugged and remote terrain. In this second book, readers are confronted with White Nationalists and the resulting rhetoric these people like to spout as well as the senseless hate crimes that follow them.

Dead Man Dancing isn't always an easy book to read. White Nationalists can make my blood pressure spike faster than almost anything else, but Galligan's characters and story-telling ability are so good that I had to keep reading to find out how everything would be resolved.

Now about these characters... Sheriff Heidi Kick has a new deputy from Texas who's slowly teaching her Spanish. I'm looking forward to seeing more of him in future books. On the surface, Heidi's husband, Harley, seems to be the usual spouse who hates sharing his partner with the demands of law enforcement, but readers get to see him in a different light in this book. He is not a two-dimensional man. Neither are his and Heidi's reactions to the demands of their daughter, Opie, and that's another situation I'm looking forward to seeing move along in the next book.

Even secondary characters have lives of their own in Dead Man Dancing. Some residents show us how some people can live their lives wearing blinders while others show us how-- after being kicked over and over again while they're down-- they can make one bad decision after another. The real question for these people is-- will they always make the wrong choice?

One of my favorite quotes in the book came when Heidi-- almost dead on her feet from exhaustion-- is told by her dispatcher to go home and get some rest. Heidi's response? "You know what happens if I go home? As soon as I get there, right about the time I get this uniform off, you call me." This is just one of the many reasons why I was never cut out for a life in law enforcement, and it was good to see the sheriff spell it out so bluntly and truthfully.

There are so many reasons to like this book, and one of them is how skillfully Galligan weaves area history into the narrative. This part of Wisconsin had former slaves move in, and one of them was known for building round barns. Not only was this bit of history fascinating but it added depth to both the story and one of Galligan's characters.

John Galligan's Bad Axe County mysteries may tackle uncomfortable subjects, but his story-telling abilities and the characters he populates the county with will always keep me coming back for more. I've encountered few law enforcement officers as dedicated as Heidi Kick to keeping their jurisdictions safe, and that's just the sort of character I like to read about.

(Review copy courtesy of the publisher and Net Galley)

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dead Man Dancing is a completely gripping sequel to Bad Axe County. Sheriff Heidi Kick is back and just as brilliant as before.

There is always a fear with a sequel, that it will never quite live up to its predecessor. Rest assured friends, this is not a problem for Galligan. This book had my heartbeat pounding (yes, really) from the very beginning and I didn't put it down until I had turned the very last page. Fair warning though, this book is not for the faint of heart, there is extreme violence, racism and sexism throughout.

But, oh my, is it worth it.

Check out the synopsis below:

It’s a time for celebration in Bad Axe County as the town gathers for the annual Syttende Mai—or Norwegian Independence Day—festival. During this rollicking family-oriented event filled with dancing and food, Sheriff Heidi Kick discovers a dark and shocking event—a migrant worker has been savagely beaten but refuses to explain what happened. Then, a sudden murder of a band member shatters the festival. Something is deeply wrong in Bad Axe County.


*I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

[Randy Rasa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bad Axe County was one of the best mystery/thrillers I read last year, and this one is even better: dark, gritty, and tense. The novel reflects the hollowing-out of rural America, with the left-behind consumed by hatred, bitterness, grievances, and despair. The communities I know well, not so different from Farmstead WI, are populated by some good people, for sure, but there is a yawning darkness just under the surface, as we can see reflected in recent national politics. The white nationalism and racial animus depicted in Dead Man Dancing are very real, and very dangerous, as is the reluctance of many rural residents to recognize and confront those ugly realities. But despite the dark characters and themes, there is some brightness as well: small-town traditions, the simple joy of polka, even an unexpected and heartwarming LGBTQ subplot. This is simply a terrific book.

[Suzanne Robertson Moutis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Things I liked about this book:
1. The tension. John Galligan sure knows how to build suspense. Just as in the first Sheriff Heidi Kick novel, Bad Axe County, this second instalment in the series ratchets up the sense of foreboding so much that several times I had to put this book down and turn to something less intense. And yet I couldn't stop reading it.
2. Sheriff Heidi Kick. Dead Man Dancing: A Novel picks up almost two years after the first story, and Sheriff Kick (or Sheriff Snowflake as she is known by her detractors) is trying to balance work and home, and feeling like she doesn't have enough to give to either. Sounds familiar to almost every working woman and mom on the planet. But for Heidi, work is life and death, and things in her small region of Wisconsin have taken a dark turn. In the county, it's May, time for the annual festival celebrating the area's Norwegian heritage. It should be a happy time of pig wrestling, parades, dancing and beer drinking. Sadly, racial tensions are on the rise, resulting in the beatings of a couple of Latinx men, and when a beloved teacher is murdered after writing a tell-all book on the county's history which promises some bombshells for the local citizens, Heidi's plate is overflowing. Heidi is a bad-ass law-enforcement officer with a checkered past, and a drive and determination to keep her family and her community safe. I love her strength and self-awareness and the way she stands up for what she believes in. She's uncompromising, in a (mostly) really good way.
3. The consistency. Dead Man Dancing has exactly the same pacing, characterization and narrative style as Bad Axe County. If you liked the first book, this is a second helping of that goodness. The characters and atmosphere haven't changed any of their spots, so it's like reconnecting with people and places you already have a comfort level with.
4. The grit. I love the "rural noir" of this book. Just from the name Bad Axe County you kind of know what to expect from the town and its people. John Galligan has done a terrific job of eliciting the surroundings for the reader: I could smell the rain in the air and feel the heat of the tarmac, see the soybean fields and hear the cicadas as the author describes them. I love this kind of transportation. Bad Axe County books give you the same feeling of atmosphere as reading really good books that take place in the swamps and bayous of the southern States. Having said that, Dead Man Dancing is not always an easy read. White supremacy is alive and well in the Bad Axe in this novel, and I was uncomfortable with the descriptions of violence against people of colour, and also the knowledge that for many people and communities such hate and racism is a daily reality.
5. Opie. Heidi's daughter, Ophelia (known as Opie), is a little firecracker. She's such a brave force for goodness that, along with Heidi herself, I ache for Opie's heart when the real world comes crashing in. In this novel, Opie has expressed dissatisfaction with being a girl, saying she feels more like a boy, and Heidi and her husband, Harley, are coming to terms with potentially parenting a transgender child.
6. Deputy Morales. More, please!

Things I didn't like so much:
1. The focus of the plot. The descriptions of the white supremacists, their horrifying beliefs and the visceral depictions of their violence were just ugly. And a bit too soon to stomach after the Capitol riots and the blathering of the far-right supporters in the U.S. But, I guess, discomfort and disgust is the point, right?
2. Harley. Sigh. I just don't know about this guy. I didn't have a great feeling from him in the first novel, and my impression wasn't really improved in Dead Man Dancing. He seems a bit of a trope: just a good-ol'-baseball-playing-beer-drinking-former-high-school-athlete-turned-everybody-loves-him-hottie-dad. I can't even remember what his job is. There are a couple of moments in this novel where he might be something, I don't know, more, but they peter out. Is it the romantic in me that thinks Heidi deserves a stronger counterpart? I'm not sure. Galligan seems a bit undecided about him, too, as Harley hasn't had much to do in these books so far and it's hard to form a clear picture of him. I'm willing to give him a third chance, though, when the next novel in the series, Bad Moon Rising: A Bad Axe County Novel, comes out later this year.

I highly recommend this series if you're looking for a juicy mystery with a bit of edge. I am looking forward to book #3.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two years ago, I spent a weekend up near Spring Green, Wisconsin, and discovered Arcadia Books. It was there that I bought my first Bad Axe County mystery featuring Sheriff Heidi Kick. It was one of the best books I read that summer, and when I wrote this review (https://cannonballread.com/2023/05/de...) I was eager to track down Books 2 and 3. However, for some reason, I didn’t.

However, two weeks ago, I found myself back up in the area (meeting with the same friends for a long weekend) and I returned to Arcadia Books. I decided I needed to support a local author and find out what was next for Heidi Kick.

It turns out that things are not going well for Heidi. She did decide to officially run for Sheriff (she was “acting” sheriff in Book 1) and won, but by a narrow margin. However, in the 619 days since she has officially taken office (yes, she is counting), she has seen the toll this job has taken on her husband and children, she has become hooked on nicotine gum, and she has frequently battled a stubborn and geriatric “good old boys” network both in city and county government. Add to that, Heidi has recently drawn the online ire of several white supremacist groups when she arrested and prosecuted her brother-in-law, Kenny, for driving through downtown Farmstead, flying a confederate flag on the back of his truck. The only bright spot is Heidi has hired a new deputy, David Morales, from Texas, whose clean record and ability to speak Spanish are desperately needed in Bad Axe.

However, things are about to take a turn for the worse. A local teacher/historian/Polka band leader, Augustus Pfaff, has written (and is just about to publish) a book that unearths some history of the region involving its African American residents that many would like to keep hidden. A young migrant worker is left at the back door of the hospital, badly beaten, apparently the victim of an underground fight club. A group called the Sons of Tyr have signed up to take part in the Syttende Mai Festival parade, and a young man from Milwaukee comes to Bad Axe to track down a long lost relative. All these elements (and a few more) come together in an explosive way that pushes Sheriff Kick to her limits and also exposes the dark underbelly of a rural Wisconsin county.

John Galligan’s writing is crisp and brutal, and this book might need a trigger warning (given its body count); however, I find Sheriff Heidi Kick a compelling character, and I have already started Book 3.

[Darren Bourn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of those novels that you start and if you judged a book by the first few chapters (or maybe only twenty pages - as I am writing this review after having started reading my next project so I might be a bit off), then I am not sure that I would have finished this book. After finishing this story, I am glad that I did stick with it past the first bit of the novel.

On the one hand the start and parts later in the book were very messy and it was hard to keep track of what was happening and of all the characters with their unusual names. And while I am no fan of the far-right movement, I struggle to believe that their membership is as universally dumb as depicted in the book and that the leadership of any organization would be that shallow once they have made the commitment to go to a small community such as the one in the book (after having attended such mainstream events as Charlottesville) to cut bait and run so quickly.

It definitely was an interesting read, which I received as part of a promotion from Book-funnel(?), with one of the ancillary themes being polka music and playing the tuba (Lawrence Welk, anyone?). Other than a bit of confusion caused by my lack of familiarity with Amish and Germanic surnames, this is definitely a good read. I would rate this book a solid 3.75 stars out of 5 stars, and would recommend this novel for anyone who enjoys police procedurals.

As with everything, this is merely my five cents worth and you may disagree.

[Anne Nerison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bad Axe County, Wisconsin, may seem quiet and serene, but there is hatred bubbling just under the surface. Sheriff Heidi Kick first notices it when her own brother-in-law, Kenny, is seen driving around with Confederate flags on his pickup. Then a couple migrant workers from a nearby farm show up bloodied and bruised, one talking about a fight club. Meanwhile, Augustus Faff has just published a book on the round barns in the area, built by Alga Shivers, and in the process uncovered genealogical lines he knows some residents would like to keep hidden. When the leader of a national white supremacist group comes to Farmstead, events come to a head, putting the sheriff and her family (not to mention the non-white residents of the town) in danger.

While Heidi is trying to keep her community safe and stop the Sons of Tyre before they put more lives at risk, her family life is starting to come apart at the seams. Her oldest child, Opie, has expressed a desire to be a boy rather than a girl. Her husband, Harvey, is meeting up regularly with some woman at the dam. And Heidi just can't say no when a call comes in on her days off.

This gritty follow-up to Bad Axe County was difficult to listen to at times, because it hits so close to the reckoning our country is going through. Though we like to think our communities are wholesome and kind, sometimes that's not the case. John Galligan shows, too, how easy it can be to get swept up in a movement, how someone can get in too deep before they realize it (which is not to excuse the evil hate groups and their members can do, of course). He also shows just how entrenched bigotry can be in our communities, and how hard it can be to shine a light on it.

Sometimes fiction can have an impact on readers in a way other mediums lack, and that might be the case here. While Dead Man Dancing doesn't show us anything we haven't heard about on the news, it puts faces to the deeds, emotions to the victims, and shows how real and insidious the problems actually are.

[Nolan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bad Axe County, Wisconsin has always been a place where race and skin color didn’t matter. You succeeded or failed largely on your merits. But that all changes when some locals team up with white supremacists from out of state to “make a statement” about the deterioration of race relations in the county. From the group’s perspective integration is deterioration.

Sheriff Heidi Kick, derisively known as Heidi Snowflake to the white supremacists, wants to stop the problem before it’s out of hand, but she can’t trust anyone in her inner circle to help her. Worse still, an employee of Kick’s claims she saw Kick’s Husband hanging with another woman out of town. Her county is in trouble from both the inside and out and now her marriage seems to be falling apart.

The town has gathered for the annual Syttende Mai—Norwegian Independence Day—festival. Strains of the Beer Barrel Polka ring out from the local polka band, and the community is in a festive mood. But there’s a darker side to this. Sheriff Kick learns of a caged fighting ring in town—a fight club—with ties to white nationalism. Then her husband goes missing.

Kick is a likable heroine whose flaws make her more intriguing than objectionable. The audiobook narrator does a magnificent job.

[Bruce Moffat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not just your average police thriller. Galligan combines timely plot elements, such as a white supremacist group coming to rural SW Wisconsin to make a public statement of hate, as well as a young biracial man who comes to the region to learn about his ancestral connection to the small group of African Americans who sought a better life after transiting the underground railroad (one relative in particular was known for designing distinctive round barns, some of which are still in existence). Throw in a young female sheriff, whose demanding job is straining her family life, some small-town politics, some recent Hispanic immigrants, some Amish neighbors, and small homage to the WI polka tradition and you have a fresh take on the cop genre. Oh, and Galligan writes well, too. He's much more than a good storyteller. For instance, he describes cigarette smoke as "ectoplasmic veils". If you're open to a grisly tale set in a struggling rural area, the characters, plot, and word-smithing will reward your time investment.

[Violet · Rating 4 out of 5]

A coworker of mine knows the author, and has been passing this book around at work, enthusiastically extolling it. Even though I never like things that seem too hyped, I read it, and enjoyed it very much. I want to read more books in the series now. Natives of Southern Wisconsin will see themselves, their traditions and their friends and family echoing through the storyline, which is very fast-paced and gripping. This was a two day read for me. It may have you digging for further information concerning African-Americans’ residence in small town Wisconsin and their contributions and subsequent disappearance. I might call this fictionalized reality because some of the characters existed. I did some digging but didn’t find what I was looking for, namely whether the Shivers family is the same as former east side alderman Michael Shivers family of Madison (both my mother and I went to school with two generations of Michael Shivers at East High School, Sr. and Jr. Hope that’s not too much of a spoiler)!

[Brooke · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my favorite of the Bad Axe series although it definitely has its flaws. The author mentioned to get every current issue in there somehow. I have a hard time believing that so many of the white-supremacist followers are as stupid as they are portrayed here.

I still have not developed an affinity for Sherriff Kick. She takes too many risks and manages to go 48 hours without sleeping in every book - usually with some type of physical injury as well.

Yesterday I found myself questioning whether I found those traits bothersome because she was a woman but I don't think so. I don't like it when the male law enforcement/detectives are portrayed as as physical superhuman with serious emotional problems either. In the real world too many of them would be on the nightly news for abuse of suspects/prisoners.

So I don't think I will be waiting for book #5 - although I would like to know what happens with Opie! She's my favorite character.

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great entry in the Bad Axe saga, following the story of “beauty queen turned sheriff” Heidi Kick. Very of the moment, with themes of white supremacist violence, whitewashed history, and gender fluidity. While there are a number of cartoonishly evil neo-Nazi villains, the book also demonstrated how some are pulled into the orbit of these groups simply because these are the people they grew up and socialize with in a small town; so it also includes misguided characters who redeem themselves when they realize what they’ve become a part of. A wonderfully fleshed out portrayal of small-town Wisconsin life, with polka dancing, summer festivals, and 4H competitions. I’d say the only clunky subplot was a suspicion of infidelity that even the author seemed to recognize was hopelessly transparent, as the “surprising (not-at-all-surprising)” twist wrapped it up in about two pages.

[Kathleen Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of secrets in Bad Axe County. Heidi Kick, the Sheriff, has a strong conscience and a tough road to hoe dealing with the residents of the county, her husband Harley, and her kids. Now, there's a Norwegian Independence Day festival, white supremacists, attacks on non-white people, and much ugliness. AND, her husband Harley isn't what she thought he was. I, sadly, learned something while reading this- sadly because it involves the racism Heidi has to counter. This isn't a pretty read- it isn't a pretty subject- but Heidi is a strong and admirable character. I had not read the first book but this was fine as a standalone. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A topical read- I'd like to see more of Heidi (and get more answers).

[Art · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sheriff Heidi Kick returns for her second adventure in Bad Axe County, Wisconsin.

She's been elected and is working far too many hours. Her daughter wants to be a boy. Her husband may be seeing another woman. But the town's annual Norwegian independence day festival -- and lots of polka music -- may be just what she needs to set things right.

Except the tuba player is missing. Someone is beating up Hispanic men. And lots of strangers are showing up to march in the parade.

The sheriff is a wonderful central figure in a very good, gritty series. Her encounter with white nationalists is a timely entry in this superior regional mystery series.

[Brian Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading book one a while back, I wondered if this series would lose some steam. It did not. It is set in a backwards county that is almost as if you looked back 150 years ago. One of the parts I liked was you could not tell who you could trust which gave the story some twists and turns. Once again Sheriff Kick saves the day and foils a plot. I don’t want to say more to ruin the story but it is worth your time.
Thank you Netgalley, John Galligan and Atria books for the ARC for my honest review.

[Robbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, I wasn’t sure I would be able to read this book. The hate and anger of some of the characters was intense. Once I picked the book up again, I couldn’t put it down! With what had happened in Charlottesville and then DC, the book addresses a current and serious topic.

I thought the author handled the social issues of the time well. Characters were well developed and relatable. The small Amish community was the ideal backdrop for the social contrasts. Plus you learned about the Underground Railroad and round barns!

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one snuck up on me, that is, how good it became. During the first 75 pp or so, I could not figure out what the different plot strands would have in common, but suddenly everything becomes clear... and extremely uncomfortable! The Kick domestic problems, the odd yuppie kid wandering about, the domestic terrorists, the tuba player-historian? Heidi really steps up, and although she does wonder, near the end, if she and her family have much time left in Farmstead, I think that the series does not move onward without her. After all, Bad Axe will be bad!

[Troy Pool · Rating 5 out of 5]

A worthy sequel to Bad Axe County.

Interim Sheriff Kick has won the election and now her problems are just beginning. Murder, arson, white supremacists, a fight club, a missing and possibly cheating husband are what Heidi Kick is facing during the county's Syttende Mai—or Norwegian Independence Day—festival.

John Galligan has created a dark, gritty world that feels a little too real at times in this fast paced, unputdownable thriller.