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Quinn Colson #4
The Forsaken
Thirty-six years ago, a nameless black man wandered into Jericho, Mississippi, with nothing but the clothes on his back and a pair of paratrooper boots. Less than two days later, he was accused of rape and murder, hunted down by a self-appointed posse, and lynched.
Now evidence has surfaced of his innocence, and county sheriff Quinn Colson sets out not only to identify the stranger’s remains, but to charge those responsible for the lynching. As he starts to uncover old lies and dirty secrets, though, he runs up against fierce opposition from those with the most to lose—and they can play dirty themselves.
Soon Colson will find himself accused of terrible crimes, and the worst part is, the accusations just might stick. As the two investigations come to a head, it is anybody’s guess who will prevail—or even come out of it alive.
Now evidence has surfaced of his innocence, and county sheriff Quinn Colson sets out not only to identify the stranger’s remains, but to charge those responsible for the lynching. As he starts to uncover old lies and dirty secrets, though, he runs up against fierce opposition from those with the most to lose—and they can play dirty themselves.
Soon Colson will find himself accused of terrible crimes, and the worst part is, the accusations just might stick. As the two investigations come to a head, it is anybody’s guess who will prevail—or even come out of it alive.
369 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 24, 2014
368 people are currently reading
1398 people want to read
About the author
Ace Atkins
71 books1,558 followersAce Atkins is the author of twenty-eight books, including eleven Quinn Colson novels, the first two of which, The Ranger and The Lost Ones, were nominated for the Edgar Award for Best Novel (he has a third Edgar nomination for his short story "Last Fair Deal Gone Down"). He is the author of nine New York Times-bestselling novels in the continuation of Robert B. Parker's Spenser series. Before turning to fiction, he was a correspondent for the St. Petersburg Times and a crime reporter for the Tampa Tribune, and he played defensive end for Auburn University football.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 255 reviews
June 26, 2017
If the FX network is looking for another book series about rural crime to develop into a TV show to replace Justified after its upcoming final season, it could do a helluva lot worse than buying the rights to Ace Atkins’ Quinn Colson series.
As Tibbehah County tries to recover from a devastating round of tornadoes, Sheriff Colson and his chief deputy are being investigated for their actions in the previous book. Corrupt county commissioner and redneck kingpin Johnny Stagg is behind this investigation as part of his effort to control Quinn and use him for his own purposes. This connects to the leader of a biker gang Stagg fears who is about to be released from prison. The gang has returned in force to pave the way for his return, and all of it ties back to a crime that occurred in 1977.
Atkins scores again with another great tale that sees Quinn unearthing some ugly secrets tied to his family history. I especially enjoyed how Johnny Stagg has gradually been built up into the Boss Hogg of this series. As a sleazy local politician who likes to claim the moral high ground even as he runs a strip club and is trying to build a drug pipeline, Stagg has become one of the most interesting characters. He’s a sidewinder, never coming at Quinn directly, and he’s a master of small town manipulation. The series has subtly become an on-going cold war between Stagg and Quinn, and the more we find about the history of Tibbehah County, the more we realize that Stagg has been a cancer rotting it out for some time.
Quinn remains the steady moral center of the series with his code of a former Army Ranger mixing with the rural good manners of a Southern gentleman. It’s a nice touch that Colson remains more soldier than lawmen, often leaving the nuances of police work to his chief deputy, Lillie. His growing frustration with the locals who are often too stupid or too blind to recognize what Stagg is also seems to be fitting for a guy who finds himself back in the small town he swore never to return to.
Like the last book, this one leaves a fair number of plot threads dangling, but it’s clear that Atkins is doing this deliberately as part of telling a larger story about the secret history of his fictional patch of Mississippi.
Also posted at Kemper's Book Blog.
As Tibbehah County tries to recover from a devastating round of tornadoes, Sheriff Colson and his chief deputy are being investigated for their actions in the previous book. Corrupt county commissioner and redneck kingpin Johnny Stagg is behind this investigation as part of his effort to control Quinn and use him for his own purposes. This connects to the leader of a biker gang Stagg fears who is about to be released from prison. The gang has returned in force to pave the way for his return, and all of it ties back to a crime that occurred in 1977.
Atkins scores again with another great tale that sees Quinn unearthing some ugly secrets tied to his family history. I especially enjoyed how Johnny Stagg has gradually been built up into the Boss Hogg of this series. As a sleazy local politician who likes to claim the moral high ground even as he runs a strip club and is trying to build a drug pipeline, Stagg has become one of the most interesting characters. He’s a sidewinder, never coming at Quinn directly, and he’s a master of small town manipulation. The series has subtly become an on-going cold war between Stagg and Quinn, and the more we find about the history of Tibbehah County, the more we realize that Stagg has been a cancer rotting it out for some time.
Quinn remains the steady moral center of the series with his code of a former Army Ranger mixing with the rural good manners of a Southern gentleman. It’s a nice touch that Colson remains more soldier than lawmen, often leaving the nuances of police work to his chief deputy, Lillie. His growing frustration with the locals who are often too stupid or too blind to recognize what Stagg is also seems to be fitting for a guy who finds himself back in the small town he swore never to return to.
Like the last book, this one leaves a fair number of plot threads dangling, but it’s clear that Atkins is doing this deliberately as part of telling a larger story about the secret history of his fictional patch of Mississippi.
Also posted at Kemper's Book Blog.
April 11, 2025
Southern rural crime fiction at its finest. Atkins spins a tale that immediately draws you into his small backwoods community and once you’re in, you’re hooked.
November 13, 2017
Okay, so I'm a fan.... Quinn, Lilly, Caddy, Quinn and Caddy's father Jason...Caddy's son Jason (or little Jason) the whole cast of well drawn/written characters.
With a couple of cold cases rearing their heads and "the powers that be" wanting to keep them, "under cover" you can guess how Quinn will react and what (some of) the results will be.
This series of books does use racism as a plot device and frankly many if not most of the people who are identified as Christians come off looking, less than ideal. Still the stories are well written and the characters work very well. The fact that the seamier and/or darker side of life often shows it's less than attractive head is just "part of it". The books aren't offensive if you can, you know think about what's said. A big part of this story (meaning the story revealed in the entire series) has a lot to do with what happened in the past and what might be called "reaping what we sow".
We get a good book and an almost enthralling story. I surprise myself in that I really like these (that may have to do with a lot of things. I feel like I Quinn quite often). I recommend these, enjoy.
With a couple of cold cases rearing their heads and "the powers that be" wanting to keep them, "under cover" you can guess how Quinn will react and what (some of) the results will be.
This series of books does use racism as a plot device and frankly many if not most of the people who are identified as Christians come off looking, less than ideal. Still the stories are well written and the characters work very well. The fact that the seamier and/or darker side of life often shows it's less than attractive head is just "part of it". The books aren't offensive if you can, you know think about what's said. A big part of this story (meaning the story revealed in the entire series) has a lot to do with what happened in the past and what might be called "reaping what we sow".
We get a good book and an almost enthralling story. I surprise myself in that I really like these (that may have to do with a lot of things. I feel like I Quinn quite often). I recommend these, enjoy.
February 4, 2018
I'm the kind of person that read books way out of order. I started with book five, then I got to book three and then I read book four (this one). And that is all the audiobooks that I had so I ordered book one and two and now I'm just waiting for some time over to read them. On the plus side, listening to the audio version of this book was way easier than book five because now I know who is who. The worst problem listening to a couple of books in a series in a row is actually remembering what happened in each of the books.
Sheriff Quinn Colson is contacted by a woman that survived a brutal rape, but had to watch her best friend get killed. Now she wants Quinn to look into the case again because she knows that the wrong man was lynched for the crime. This is not easy said and done, there are deep buried secrets and many people are not happy about this reopening of a closed case.
As I stated in my review for book five is this series perfect if you have read all the Longmire books and looking for something similar. Quinn may not be the new Walt Longmire, but he's a very interesting character, being an ex-soldier that took over the sheriff job after his uncle. His deputy Lillie Virgil is just as tough and cool as Vic from the Longmire series. Together are they a fabulous team. As for the case, it will get very personal for Quinn when he learns that someone in his family may have been there when the man got lynched...
Sheriff Quinn Colson is contacted by a woman that survived a brutal rape, but had to watch her best friend get killed. Now she wants Quinn to look into the case again because she knows that the wrong man was lynched for the crime. This is not easy said and done, there are deep buried secrets and many people are not happy about this reopening of a closed case.
As I stated in my review for book five is this series perfect if you have read all the Longmire books and looking for something similar. Quinn may not be the new Walt Longmire, but he's a very interesting character, being an ex-soldier that took over the sheriff job after his uncle. His deputy Lillie Virgil is just as tough and cool as Vic from the Longmire series. Together are they a fabulous team. As for the case, it will get very personal for Quinn when he learns that someone in his family may have been there when the man got lynched...
July 13, 2016
Ace Adkins’ The Forsaken (Quinn Colson Series #4) is a gritty Deep South series, of small town politics, corruption, and dirty secrets.
A nameless black man wanders into a small Mississippi town, and two days later is lynched for rape and murder he did not commit.
Thirty-six years later Sheriff Colson attempts to track down the true culprit of the crime; however, as in most small towns, some secrets are not meant to be uncovered. He handles hot and cold cases from the past with corruption, drug dealing, and crime.
As Tibbehah County is recovering from tornadoes, Colson and his deputy are being investigated for their actions. Colson and his female Deputy Sheriff, Lillie Virgil are being framed for shooting a corrupt police officer with the implicit suggestion that if they go after a 30 year old cold case to catch the killer then all would be taken care of.
Corrupt county commissioner and Johnny Stagg are both behind the investigation to control Quinn for their own purposes—connecting to leader of a biker gang Stagg fears who is about to be released from prison, all tie back to the crime in 1977.
Full of dirty secrets of the past and family history, for some redneck southern politics, power, corruption, strip clubs, and drugs and small town manipulation.
I thought the book had a great setup; and some great writing. However, should have read the book instead of listening to audio. The narrator Brian D'Arcy James, had the most annoying voice, which ruined the overall performance.
A nameless black man wanders into a small Mississippi town, and two days later is lynched for rape and murder he did not commit.
Thirty-six years later Sheriff Colson attempts to track down the true culprit of the crime; however, as in most small towns, some secrets are not meant to be uncovered. He handles hot and cold cases from the past with corruption, drug dealing, and crime.
As Tibbehah County is recovering from tornadoes, Colson and his deputy are being investigated for their actions. Colson and his female Deputy Sheriff, Lillie Virgil are being framed for shooting a corrupt police officer with the implicit suggestion that if they go after a 30 year old cold case to catch the killer then all would be taken care of.
Corrupt county commissioner and Johnny Stagg are both behind the investigation to control Quinn for their own purposes—connecting to leader of a biker gang Stagg fears who is about to be released from prison, all tie back to the crime in 1977.
Full of dirty secrets of the past and family history, for some redneck southern politics, power, corruption, strip clubs, and drugs and small town manipulation.
I thought the book had a great setup; and some great writing. However, should have read the book instead of listening to audio. The narrator Brian D'Arcy James, had the most annoying voice, which ruined the overall performance.
November 14, 2018
Fourth in the Quinn Colson action thriller series and revolving around a good sheriff in a town ruled by a corrupt council, in Jericho, Mississippi.
My Take
This story was slow to start with a slow lead-up. It wasn't until the start of chapter eighteen that this story's conflict finally shows up. Even then, Atkins keeps moving the story so slowly, dribbling out little hints here and there, using a third person global subjective point-of-view, mostly from Quinn's perspective, but we do hear Stagg plotting and planning, Diane's and Stillwell's thoughts, Royce's frustration, and a few others.
It is a pip of a story and does cover a lot of ground from why Jason left Jericho to the truth of the rape and murder back in 1977 to the conflict between the Born Losers and Johnny Stagg. It's also so full of frame-ups, betrayals, and the hypocrisy of that county board, Stagg, and the DA's office in Oxford...*shaking her head*...
Ya gotta give it to Stagg, makin' himself look like a real philanthropist, buying out people's destroyed shops even as he's about to profit from potential new buyers for the same.
Hmmm, wonder if this is a foreshadowing when Lillie mentions how much she hates Tibbehah County and Quinn's wanting to quit once this particular mess is cleared up...and then he learns the truth about why Jason left Jericho for good. I mean, whoaaa... Ya know, Jason was a jerk, but Jean has culpability in this as well.
I do enjoy the down-home atmosphere Atkins weaves as characters gather to talk, fight, and eat....mmmm, that cookin' sounds downright tasty! Atkins adds more color with that advice Quinn gives to Jason that backfires, but I reckon it was still good advice. There's a good bit in here about the various Hollywood projects Jason worked and the tales he wove in about shooting Smokey and the Bandit and the stars he dated. There's quite a bit of personal reflection as well, as different characters absorb how life has hit them, changed them, and how it alters their perspectives on the past.
It is a good story, just so dang slow, and there are some decent people in Jericho, ya just gotta dig to find 'em. It sure helps at the very end when it appears that one of those bad guys may be of use.
The Story
It's a Tibbehah Miracle is what that tornado was. The town looks set to be booming with new factories coming in, grants to repair buildings and downtown, and new restaurants moving in.
As for that investigation into the whys of Quinn and Lillie killing all those people at the exchange point, why it's only getting worse for them and looking like murder charges...making Stagg happier than, well, you know... He's aimin' to get Quinn Colson in the palm of his hand...much like he had his uncle Hamp.
The Characters
Sheriff Quinn Colson is still new on the job after having quit the Army Rangers. Hondo is his cattle dog. His once bad-girl sister, Caddy, is keeping on with The River Ministry Jamey Dixon started up, crediting Jamey for her turning her life around. Jason is her biracial five-year-old son who adores his uncle Quinn and thinks of himself as an animal protector and rescuer. The black, one-armed Boom Kimbrough, Quinn's best friend forever, had been with the Mississippi National Guard, and now works as the county mechanic. Since the tornado swept through, Caddy, Jason, and his momma, Jean Colson, have been living with Quinn at Uncle Hamp's farmhouse.
Their daddy, Jason Colson, had been a stuntman in Hollywood and had worked on Burt Reynolds' films, Dukes of Hazzard, the A-Team, MacGyver, and more. These days, he's working at a horse farm in Pocahontas, Hinds County. Van, the current train engineer for the children's train at the mall, and Jerry, a long-haul truck driver, are Jason's brothers. Aunt Dot is married to Jerry.
Ophelia Bundren is Quinn's girl, runs the Bundren Funeral Home, and fills in as the county's coroner. Darnel Brant is lookin' to be a client soon. Miss Nelson's husband thought it was the best she'd ever looked.
Tibbehah County Sheriff's Department
Chief Deputy Lillie Virgil, a former star of the Ole Miss Rifle Team, is Quinn's second-in-command. Mary Alice has been working at the office for over twenty years. More deputies include Kenny, Dave Cullison, Art Watts, and Ike Caslin.
Rose is the Mexican child Lillie adopted in The Lost Ones , 2.
Diane Tull, part Cherokee, is all grown up now, two marriages behind her and teenage sons, Patrick and David, with her. Her mother, Alma, had married Shed Castle who owned Jericho Farm & Ranch, which Diane inherited. A good singer, Diane is with a local band, Outlaw, that performs at the Southern Star and The River. J.T., the local muffler man, plays bass, and Wallace plays drums.
Hank Stillwell, a.k.a., Pig Pen or Red, had been Lori's dad, riding with the Born Losers at the time. He'd been in 'Nam too, with the 101st Airborne, 506th Regiment, at Hamburger Hill.
W.R. "Sonny" Stevens is a first rate lawyer who's usually drunk. He's defending Quinn and Lillie against murder charges ( The Broken Places , 3). Mr Jim runs the barbershop, and Luther Varner is the owner of Varner's Quick Mart where Miss Peaches works; both men were Hamp's friends and are now Quinn's supporters. Donnie Varner is Luther's son who got into trouble in The Lost Ones , 2. Chip is the bartender at the Southern Star. Pap's is one of the local restaurants, as is the Fillin' Station diner where Mary, Hamp's old girlfriend, works as a waitress. Anna Lee, Quinn's high school girlfriend, is married to Dr Luke Stevens. Spam is the owner and chief bartender of Club Disco 9000 in Sugar Ditch where Boom used to drink. Pastor Shelton Graves is the preacher at Primitive Baptist Church. Clay Sneed is a real estate broker...and kinda dumb.
Miss Thomas is missing a TV and some personal things. Mr Davis' zero-turn Toro was stolen. Chester is in a feud with Miss Doris who owns the florist shop. Missy Hayes found all her things tossed out of the house she rents from her uncle Levi Sims.
Jay Bartlett is the mayor. Yep, his daddy had been the previous mayor. Men who stand for what people want to hear. E.J. Royce retired from being a deputy; now he enjoys life with a pack of coon dogs...and hassling Diane. That "good ol' boy" just doesn't get that times have changed. Hal Strange is another deputy from the 1970s who retired.
Johnny Stagg is hypocritical scum born of a manure salesman, claiming to be a Christian while running a strip joint/whorehouse, buying off politicians and cops, moving drugs, essentially running most of Tibbehah County. He also owns the Rebel, a Christian truck stop next door to the Booby Trap. Some idiots just made him a deacon at First Baptist. His current bodyguard is Ringold, former Special Forces and a Blackwater operator. The Trooper is Stagg's go-to assassin, who also happens to work for the state troopers. Gotta wonder if he ain't that state trooper captain.
Wade Mize is the president of the chamber of commerce. His mother, Betty Jo Mize, runs and owns the Tibbehah Monitor. Senator Vardaman has a hunting lodge in the area where Willie James Jones works when he's not at the Rebel. Mr Dupuy, a former pimp and car thief, owns most of the houses in Sugar Ditch, an old black slum, and is on the county board, representing District 4. His predecessor (before Dupuy's daddy) was a nasty white man, Bertrand Sinclair. The dimwitted Chuck McDougal, who represents District 3, whose daddy had been the biggest crook around, is planning to take Quinn down. Sam Bishop, Jr, and Bobby Pickens (District 5) are still decent.
Bobby Campo is in prison. Stagg's new contact in Memphis is Craig Houston, a boy who raised himself up from a housing project, who sells.
Police Chief Leonard Chappelle was a lousy cop and Stagg's stooge. Esau Davis was an escaped con wanting his money.
Oxford, Mississippi
Dale Childress is the DA's investigator. Trey Wilbanks is the assistant district attorney.
The Born Losers Motorcycle Club is/was...
...led by Chains LeDoux, who is about to be released from Brushy Mountain federal penitentiary, and is the club president who had been through three tours with the Marines in 'Nam. Based at Choctaw Lake, the gang includes Big Doug (sergeant-at-arms) and his old lady, Long Tall Sally; Deke was the club treasurer; Gangrene was the enforcer and worked at J.T's body shop; Animal, a.k.a., Chester Anthony DiFranco; Slow Joe; and, Frank Miller.
Debbie, married now, had been Chains' old lady. The Outlaws are a rival gang.
Pocahontas
Mr Birdsong rents trailers. Jason is keeping himself clean, paid off the men from Jackson. Darlene is the woman he'd been living with.
Summer 1977
Jimmy had been Diane's cheating boyfriend back then. Diane Tull was seventeen back then with a father who was a Pentecostal minister. Fourteen-year-old Lori Stillwell, embarrassed by her deadbeat dad, is Diane's friend. Echo is the black man they strung up.
Deputy E.J. Royce was there at the time. Doc Stevens and Judge Blanton offered rewards. The sneaky Ben Bartlett had been mayor. Jason Colson had joined up with Hal Needham on a film, dated Adrienne Barbeau and Suzanne Somers, and thought of Jean Beckett, sister of the then sheriff, Hamp Beckett. Darlene Stillwell had been Pig Pen's youngest sister.
Carl Rose had been a bully in school. Quinn and Ringold had both known Ricardo Perez from Ft Bragg. Bandit had been a palomino that Jason owned.
The Cover and Title
The cover is muted deep blues with the silhouette of a bare-branched tree upfront and a murky landscape beyond it, the moon glowing from behind the clouds. The info blurb at the top with the embossed author's name immediately below it is in white. A testimonial is immediately below and right of the author's name while the serial information is at the bottom left; both are in orange. The embossed title, spanning the tree, has the most interesting coloration with a horizontal gradation of white to a purplish blue.
The title is all about The Forsaken justice in Jericho and Tibbehah County.
My Take
This story was slow to start with a slow lead-up. It wasn't until the start of chapter eighteen that this story's conflict finally shows up. Even then, Atkins keeps moving the story so slowly, dribbling out little hints here and there, using a third person global subjective point-of-view, mostly from Quinn's perspective, but we do hear Stagg plotting and planning, Diane's and Stillwell's thoughts, Royce's frustration, and a few others.
It is a pip of a story and does cover a lot of ground from why Jason left Jericho to the truth of the rape and murder back in 1977 to the conflict between the Born Losers and Johnny Stagg. It's also so full of frame-ups, betrayals, and the hypocrisy of that county board, Stagg, and the DA's office in Oxford...*shaking her head*...
Ya gotta give it to Stagg, makin' himself look like a real philanthropist, buying out people's destroyed shops even as he's about to profit from potential new buyers for the same.
Hmmm, wonder if this is a foreshadowing when Lillie mentions how much she hates Tibbehah County and Quinn's wanting to quit once this particular mess is cleared up...and then he learns the truth about why Jason left Jericho for good. I mean, whoaaa... Ya know, Jason was a jerk, but Jean has culpability in this as well.
I do enjoy the down-home atmosphere Atkins weaves as characters gather to talk, fight, and eat....mmmm, that cookin' sounds downright tasty! Atkins adds more color with that advice Quinn gives to Jason that backfires, but I reckon it was still good advice. There's a good bit in here about the various Hollywood projects Jason worked and the tales he wove in about shooting Smokey and the Bandit and the stars he dated. There's quite a bit of personal reflection as well, as different characters absorb how life has hit them, changed them, and how it alters their perspectives on the past.
It is a good story, just so dang slow, and there are some decent people in Jericho, ya just gotta dig to find 'em. It sure helps at the very end when it appears that one of those bad guys may be of use.
The Story
It's a Tibbehah Miracle is what that tornado was. The town looks set to be booming with new factories coming in, grants to repair buildings and downtown, and new restaurants moving in.
As for that investigation into the whys of Quinn and Lillie killing all those people at the exchange point, why it's only getting worse for them and looking like murder charges...making Stagg happier than, well, you know... He's aimin' to get Quinn Colson in the palm of his hand...much like he had his uncle Hamp.
The Characters
Sheriff Quinn Colson is still new on the job after having quit the Army Rangers. Hondo is his cattle dog. His once bad-girl sister, Caddy, is keeping on with The River Ministry Jamey Dixon started up, crediting Jamey for her turning her life around. Jason is her biracial five-year-old son who adores his uncle Quinn and thinks of himself as an animal protector and rescuer. The black, one-armed Boom Kimbrough, Quinn's best friend forever, had been with the Mississippi National Guard, and now works as the county mechanic. Since the tornado swept through, Caddy, Jason, and his momma, Jean Colson, have been living with Quinn at Uncle Hamp's farmhouse.
Their daddy, Jason Colson, had been a stuntman in Hollywood and had worked on Burt Reynolds' films, Dukes of Hazzard, the A-Team, MacGyver, and more. These days, he's working at a horse farm in Pocahontas, Hinds County. Van, the current train engineer for the children's train at the mall, and Jerry, a long-haul truck driver, are Jason's brothers. Aunt Dot is married to Jerry.
Ophelia Bundren is Quinn's girl, runs the Bundren Funeral Home, and fills in as the county's coroner. Darnel Brant is lookin' to be a client soon. Miss Nelson's husband thought it was the best she'd ever looked.
Tibbehah County Sheriff's Department
Chief Deputy Lillie Virgil, a former star of the Ole Miss Rifle Team, is Quinn's second-in-command. Mary Alice has been working at the office for over twenty years. More deputies include Kenny, Dave Cullison, Art Watts, and Ike Caslin.
Rose is the Mexican child Lillie adopted in The Lost Ones , 2.
Diane Tull, part Cherokee, is all grown up now, two marriages behind her and teenage sons, Patrick and David, with her. Her mother, Alma, had married Shed Castle who owned Jericho Farm & Ranch, which Diane inherited. A good singer, Diane is with a local band, Outlaw, that performs at the Southern Star and The River. J.T., the local muffler man, plays bass, and Wallace plays drums.
Hank Stillwell, a.k.a., Pig Pen or Red, had been Lori's dad, riding with the Born Losers at the time. He'd been in 'Nam too, with the 101st Airborne, 506th Regiment, at Hamburger Hill.
W.R. "Sonny" Stevens is a first rate lawyer who's usually drunk. He's defending Quinn and Lillie against murder charges ( The Broken Places , 3). Mr Jim runs the barbershop, and Luther Varner is the owner of Varner's Quick Mart where Miss Peaches works; both men were Hamp's friends and are now Quinn's supporters. Donnie Varner is Luther's son who got into trouble in The Lost Ones , 2. Chip is the bartender at the Southern Star. Pap's is one of the local restaurants, as is the Fillin' Station diner where Mary, Hamp's old girlfriend, works as a waitress. Anna Lee, Quinn's high school girlfriend, is married to Dr Luke Stevens. Spam is the owner and chief bartender of Club Disco 9000 in Sugar Ditch where Boom used to drink. Pastor Shelton Graves is the preacher at Primitive Baptist Church. Clay Sneed is a real estate broker...and kinda dumb.
Miss Thomas is missing a TV and some personal things. Mr Davis' zero-turn Toro was stolen. Chester is in a feud with Miss Doris who owns the florist shop. Missy Hayes found all her things tossed out of the house she rents from her uncle Levi Sims.
Jay Bartlett is the mayor. Yep, his daddy had been the previous mayor. Men who stand for what people want to hear. E.J. Royce retired from being a deputy; now he enjoys life with a pack of coon dogs...and hassling Diane. That "good ol' boy" just doesn't get that times have changed. Hal Strange is another deputy from the 1970s who retired.
Johnny Stagg is hypocritical scum born of a manure salesman, claiming to be a Christian while running a strip joint/whorehouse, buying off politicians and cops, moving drugs, essentially running most of Tibbehah County. He also owns the Rebel, a Christian truck stop next door to the Booby Trap. Some idiots just made him a deacon at First Baptist. His current bodyguard is Ringold, former Special Forces and a Blackwater operator. The Trooper is Stagg's go-to assassin, who also happens to work for the state troopers. Gotta wonder if he ain't that state trooper captain.
Wade Mize is the president of the chamber of commerce. His mother, Betty Jo Mize, runs and owns the Tibbehah Monitor. Senator Vardaman has a hunting lodge in the area where Willie James Jones works when he's not at the Rebel. Mr Dupuy, a former pimp and car thief, owns most of the houses in Sugar Ditch, an old black slum, and is on the county board, representing District 4. His predecessor (before Dupuy's daddy) was a nasty white man, Bertrand Sinclair. The dimwitted Chuck McDougal, who represents District 3, whose daddy had been the biggest crook around, is planning to take Quinn down. Sam Bishop, Jr, and Bobby Pickens (District 5) are still decent.
Bobby Campo is in prison. Stagg's new contact in Memphis is Craig Houston, a boy who raised himself up from a housing project, who sells.
Police Chief Leonard Chappelle was a lousy cop and Stagg's stooge. Esau Davis was an escaped con wanting his money.
Oxford, Mississippi
Dale Childress is the DA's investigator. Trey Wilbanks is the assistant district attorney.
The Born Losers Motorcycle Club is/was...
...led by Chains LeDoux, who is about to be released from Brushy Mountain federal penitentiary, and is the club president who had been through three tours with the Marines in 'Nam. Based at Choctaw Lake, the gang includes Big Doug (sergeant-at-arms) and his old lady, Long Tall Sally; Deke was the club treasurer; Gangrene was the enforcer and worked at J.T's body shop; Animal, a.k.a., Chester Anthony DiFranco; Slow Joe; and, Frank Miller.
Debbie, married now, had been Chains' old lady. The Outlaws are a rival gang.
Pocahontas
Mr Birdsong rents trailers. Jason is keeping himself clean, paid off the men from Jackson. Darlene is the woman he'd been living with.
Summer 1977
Jimmy had been Diane's cheating boyfriend back then. Diane Tull was seventeen back then with a father who was a Pentecostal minister. Fourteen-year-old Lori Stillwell, embarrassed by her deadbeat dad, is Diane's friend. Echo is the black man they strung up.
Deputy E.J. Royce was there at the time. Doc Stevens and Judge Blanton offered rewards. The sneaky Ben Bartlett had been mayor. Jason Colson had joined up with Hal Needham on a film, dated Adrienne Barbeau and Suzanne Somers, and thought of Jean Beckett, sister of the then sheriff, Hamp Beckett. Darlene Stillwell had been Pig Pen's youngest sister.
Carl Rose had been a bully in school. Quinn and Ringold had both known Ricardo Perez from Ft Bragg. Bandit had been a palomino that Jason owned.
The Cover and Title
The cover is muted deep blues with the silhouette of a bare-branched tree upfront and a murky landscape beyond it, the moon glowing from behind the clouds. The info blurb at the top with the embossed author's name immediately below it is in white. A testimonial is immediately below and right of the author's name while the serial information is at the bottom left; both are in orange. The embossed title, spanning the tree, has the most interesting coloration with a horizontal gradation of white to a purplish blue.
The title is all about The Forsaken justice in Jericho and Tibbehah County.
June 12, 2020
Another good entry in the Quinn Colson series. Quinn and Lillie must solve a decades old murder involving a motorcycle gang while fending off Johnny Stagg and his gang of Memphis hoodlums. Nice twist at the end. Highly recommended.
January 30, 2018
I’ve reread the first four books in this series ahead of starting books 5-7. The first four stood up well on the second read and in fact were improved by reading them back-to-back (I read them piecemeal the first time). Really enjoy this series - characters, dialogue and setting are all brilliantly dark and spare.
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Brilliant! I've loved this entire series but this is the best one yet in my opinion. Great, well-developed characters and the kind of writing that really transports the reader. As Kemper already noted in his review (which I have no idea how to hyperlink to on an iPad) this would be a brilliant HBO series in the same vein as Justified or Banshee.
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Brilliant! I've loved this entire series but this is the best one yet in my opinion. Great, well-developed characters and the kind of writing that really transports the reader. As Kemper already noted in his review (which I have no idea how to hyperlink to on an iPad) this would be a brilliant HBO series in the same vein as Justified or Banshee.
October 1, 2014
Not only does this book continue the narrative of Tibbehah County after the devastating tornadoes that made up the climax of the previous installment, The Broken Places, it travels back to a murder that occurred thirty years ago that Quinn is now investigating -- a murder that his father may have been somehow involved in.
This series keeps getting better and better. It is so good that when this book was released, it jumped right to the front of my to-read list, and it did not disappoint. This is definitely the work of an author at the height of his creative powers. Highly recommended.
This series keeps getting better and better. It is so good that when this book was released, it jumped right to the front of my to-read list, and it did not disappoint. This is definitely the work of an author at the height of his creative powers. Highly recommended.
October 25, 2019
I really enjoyed The Forsaken. Each book has moved the character forward. Really enjoying this series. I do not tend to read more than one or two books of a series in any given year and I have read 4 of Ace Atkins' Quinn Colson series. Good Stuff!
August 30, 2019
I’ve really been enjoying the Quinn Colson series. Ace Atkins has done an admirable job creating a moral, upstanding figure to anchor the stories in the fictional Tibbehah county, Mississippi.
Quinn Colson, former Army ranger and now sheriff, along with his trusted chief deputy, Lillie Virgil, find themselves in a complex mess involving Johnny Stagg, a corrupt and power-hungry county commissioner, the District Attorney, and a biker gang. The story flips back-and-forth between the late 70s and present, allowing Atkins to give us a deeper insight into Colson’s father, a successful stunt man who came back home for a vacation and fell in with an outlaw biker gang called “Born Losers.” Aptly named, the head of this gang ends up serving 25 years in prison, having been ratted out by someone in his gang. Released from prison, his imminent return has caused quite a stir, as he plans to re-establish his gang’s dominance with violence and retribution on any number of locals, Stagg among them.
Atkins has done an admirable job interweaving two distinct crime stories, past and present, into one. Although the book begins a bit more slowly than I had expected, the pace picks up and accelerates throughout the middle and final sections. Additionally, there are a few clever twists to the plot that leave the reader smiling and hungry for the next installment. As usual, Atkins has delivered a wonderful sense of place and believable, interesting characters that invite the reader back time and again to see what will happen next to Colson, Virgil, and the other denizens of Tibbehah county.
Quinn Colson, former Army ranger and now sheriff, along with his trusted chief deputy, Lillie Virgil, find themselves in a complex mess involving Johnny Stagg, a corrupt and power-hungry county commissioner, the District Attorney, and a biker gang. The story flips back-and-forth between the late 70s and present, allowing Atkins to give us a deeper insight into Colson’s father, a successful stunt man who came back home for a vacation and fell in with an outlaw biker gang called “Born Losers.” Aptly named, the head of this gang ends up serving 25 years in prison, having been ratted out by someone in his gang. Released from prison, his imminent return has caused quite a stir, as he plans to re-establish his gang’s dominance with violence and retribution on any number of locals, Stagg among them.
Atkins has done an admirable job interweaving two distinct crime stories, past and present, into one. Although the book begins a bit more slowly than I had expected, the pace picks up and accelerates throughout the middle and final sections. Additionally, there are a few clever twists to the plot that leave the reader smiling and hungry for the next installment. As usual, Atkins has delivered a wonderful sense of place and believable, interesting characters that invite the reader back time and again to see what will happen next to Colson, Virgil, and the other denizens of Tibbehah county.
May 26, 2014
I received an ARC of this book from the publisher. This is the story of a cold case. In ’77, two girls were raped and shot. One of them survives, the other does not. Then a group of men brutally kill a black man for the crimes. It turns out the man they killed was innocent. This is somewhat of a spoiler, but it is also on the plot blurb. This really should just tell you to go ahead and keep reading. I promise the book will go somewhere.
I jumped right into this series in the middle. This seems to be fine as long as you have a primer for who all of the characters are.
Quinn- Main character, sheriff
Caddy – Quinn’s sister
Jean- Quinn’s mom
Stevens- Quinn’s lawyer
Lillie- Deputy
Jason- Quinn and Caddy’s father, also the name of Caddy’s son
Johnny Stagg- Bad guy
Ringold- Works for Johnny
Chains- Worse guy
Ophelia- Coroner, Quinn’s girlfriend
Diane Tull- Victim of crime in ‘77
Hank Stillwell- Father of other victim in ‘77
This is boiling the characters down to their very basics, but once I had all of this worked out, I was able to follow the story easier without having to flip back pages(on an Epub book) and try to see how everybody was related.
Overall, I enjoyed the book. It was my first experience with any book by Ace Atkins, and I feel that I may have been missing some background information, but that as long as I understood who the characters were that there was a good story there without necessarily needing to read the other books. As I have not read the other books, I cannot be sure, but I believe that the “cases” in the other books were referenced a few times in this book. It also seemed to jump in right after a crazy shootout that probably happened in the previous book.
There were some parts of the book that made me think (as someone who lives in Memphis), that Atkins is not necessarily from here. For instance- I have never heard anybody call it the Sonic. It is just Sonic. There was some “name-dropping” of Memphis businesses, and that is all it seemed like. Congratulations, you know about Gus’ and Rendezvous. For me, this distracted from the Southern feel Atkins was going for because most of the southern references had no real substance.
As far as story goes, it was a reasonably interesting story, but it took about half the book to really figure out what was even being investigated. I like some mystery to my mysteries, but the answers to questions were revealed at about the same time as the questions. The mystery for me was figuring out what the book was about. Once I did, I enjoyed it and was interested in finding out the whole story.
I jumped right into this series in the middle. This seems to be fine as long as you have a primer for who all of the characters are.
Quinn- Main character, sheriff
Caddy – Quinn’s sister
Jean- Quinn’s mom
Stevens- Quinn’s lawyer
Lillie- Deputy
Jason- Quinn and Caddy’s father, also the name of Caddy’s son
Johnny Stagg- Bad guy
Ringold- Works for Johnny
Chains- Worse guy
Ophelia- Coroner, Quinn’s girlfriend
Diane Tull- Victim of crime in ‘77
Hank Stillwell- Father of other victim in ‘77
This is boiling the characters down to their very basics, but once I had all of this worked out, I was able to follow the story easier without having to flip back pages(on an Epub book) and try to see how everybody was related.
Overall, I enjoyed the book. It was my first experience with any book by Ace Atkins, and I feel that I may have been missing some background information, but that as long as I understood who the characters were that there was a good story there without necessarily needing to read the other books. As I have not read the other books, I cannot be sure, but I believe that the “cases” in the other books were referenced a few times in this book. It also seemed to jump in right after a crazy shootout that probably happened in the previous book.
There were some parts of the book that made me think (as someone who lives in Memphis), that Atkins is not necessarily from here. For instance- I have never heard anybody call it the Sonic. It is just Sonic. There was some “name-dropping” of Memphis businesses, and that is all it seemed like. Congratulations, you know about Gus’ and Rendezvous. For me, this distracted from the Southern feel Atkins was going for because most of the southern references had no real substance.
As far as story goes, it was a reasonably interesting story, but it took about half the book to really figure out what was even being investigated. I like some mystery to my mysteries, but the answers to questions were revealed at about the same time as the questions. The mystery for me was figuring out what the book was about. Once I did, I enjoyed it and was interested in finding out the whole story.
July 3, 2015
This is the fourth installment of Ace Atkin's crime fiction series featuring former Army Ranger Quinn Colson, now Sheriff of Tebbehah County in rural northeast Mississippi.
The Forsaken begins a few short months after the tornado that devastated the county as Quinn and his deputy, Lillie, are faced with possible charges for the dramatic confrontation in The Broken Places that left a corrupt sheriff and his deputy from another county dead, and over $200,000 in cash from a decades old armoured car robbery missing.
It's no surprise that Johnny Stagg is behind the investigation into the shooting but his motive is. It seems Stagg's past is about to catch up with him and, needing Colson on his side for this particular battle, he has concocted an elaborate scheme to ensure Quinn's support.
Doing his best to ignore Stagg's machinations, which isn't doing his chances for re-election as Sheriff any good, Colson is drawn into investigating a decades old cold case involving the rape and murder of a young girl, and the subsequent lynching of the black man accused of committing the crime. Finding evidence that the man was innocent, Colson is determined to identify the men and bring the members of the lynching party to justice.
The narrative moves between the past and the present, and once again, Colson's professional and personal life become tangled when he learns that both his uncle, the former town Sheriff, and his absentee father, were most likely involved in the crime.
As I have come to expect, the dialogue is genuine, the humour quick and there is enough action to keep things interesting. The rural setting is well drawn and the details authentic. The characters are terrifically well drawn, often deeply flawed but interesting and nuanced.
Though The Forsaken could conceivably be read as a stand alone, I wouldn't recommend it as familiarity with the primary characters and their history adds depth to the story. I continue to enjoy this gritty series and I'm looking forward to reading The Redeemers.
March 25, 2020
This 4th book of the Quinn Colson series by Atkins is my favorite so far. Sherriff Colson is tasked with solving a decades old rape and murder case. This is just a jumping off point for storylines began in the previous book which continue, several new cases, some personal family drama, and an excellent little plot twist at the end. I truly enjoyed it. I regularly feel that Atkins sometimes leaves scenes in that aren't necessary and stretches scenes when he should contract, but all of it contributes to the slow, Southern atmosphere. Good edition to the series, and it has me looking forward to book 5.
January 28, 2015
Thirty Six years ago a lone black man wanders into Jerico, MS. with
only the clothes on his back and a pair of paratrooper boots. Less
than two days later he was accused of rape and murder and a posse
lynched him. Now new evidence has surfaced and sheriff Quinn Colson
not only wants to identify the strangers remains but to charge those
responsible for the lynching. He is soon uncovering old lies and
dirty secrets and he is running up against fierce opposition from those
with the most to lose. He soon finds himself accused of terrible
crimes and the worst part is the accusations just might stick. As
the two investigations come to a head it's anyone's guess who might
come out of this alive. This is book four in the Quinn Colson series.
It's a little bit slow but not a bad story. Book five The Redeemer
a continuation of this will be out in July.
only the clothes on his back and a pair of paratrooper boots. Less
than two days later he was accused of rape and murder and a posse
lynched him. Now new evidence has surfaced and sheriff Quinn Colson
not only wants to identify the strangers remains but to charge those
responsible for the lynching. He is soon uncovering old lies and
dirty secrets and he is running up against fierce opposition from those
with the most to lose. He soon finds himself accused of terrible
crimes and the worst part is the accusations just might stick. As
the two investigations come to a head it's anyone's guess who might
come out of this alive. This is book four in the Quinn Colson series.
It's a little bit slow but not a bad story. Book five The Redeemer
a continuation of this will be out in July.
June 18, 2014
Ace Atkins has the ability to take you to Mississippi and immerse you in the lives of his characters. He knows the area and the people who make up the small towns. As a result when you read one of the Quinn Colson series you are there. You can feel the atmosphere of good and evil, you know the history and you know the characters. This book helps fill in some gaps in the readers' knowledge of Quinn's daddy. The same bad guys, the same good ones. Everyone flawed in their own way. The book is a fast read but not a shallow one. Fleshed out characters, a very descriptive setting, and lots of action will make this book an excellent addition to the series.
Reviewed from an ARC from LibraryThing.
Reviewed from an ARC from LibraryThing.
May 27, 2019
Jericho, Mississippi has its share of ghosts from the past along with current troublemakers. For Sheriff Quinn Colsen, events from decades ago turn out to have a startling connection to his present. A decades old lynching, outlaw motorcycle gang, corrupt public officials, and an investigation into the Sheriff and his Chief Deputy... Ace Atkins once again weaves it all seamlessly together in a setting the drips with the feel of the deep South. A highly recommended series.
Read
November 3, 2019Another well-written entry in the compelling Quinn Colson series. This tale of a small town in the deep South, where memories last long and the past still matters, is a gem.
April 18, 2020
This was an interesting one because a lot of the story took place in the past, with events that had a big impact on the present. I felt so bad for Diane, for what happened in the past and what was happening to her in the present. Caddy had good intentions for wanting to help Diane, but we know now how corrupt most people are in Jericho. They were in the past and quite few of them still are, making Quinn fight an uphill battle every time he goes againt Johnny Stagg.
I think I'm a bad person because I found myself laughing at what happened to Johnny, couldn't have happened to a better person, one who needed to be taken down a peg.
I'm glad that Quinn got some resolution with his father, not sure if it is good or not, that remains to be seen, but at least now he knows.
I think I'm a bad person because I found myself laughing at what happened to Johnny, couldn't have happened to a better person, one who needed to be taken down a peg.
I'm glad that Quinn got some resolution with his father, not sure if it is good or not, that remains to be seen, but at least now he knows.
January 13, 2020
Ace Atkins' The Forsaken is a serviceable crime/detective novel to listen to while doing mindless work (e.g. cleaning the bathroom or cooking dinner). I liked the main characters (Quinn Colson, Lillie Virgil, Diane Tull, and others). I enjoyed that way the Ringold character twists at the end. This detective novel is worth the read for engaging entertainment. I will read more in the series.
On the other hand, what I really wanted from this novel was a Harry Bosch novel set in the South. What I mean by this is that Bosch author Michael Connelly seems to be utterly in love with Los Angeles, and the city is a character in his novels. He recognizes that L.A. has a dark side but he completely loves it anyway because the city is so much more than its dark side. Ace Atkins on the other hand does not seem to love (or even like) the rural south about which he writes, nor does he seem to like the average people of the south. The south he writes about is a dark, corrupt, and hypocritical place that must be endured or escaped from. I want crime/detective/thriller fiction set in the South from a writer that loves the place and the people without sugar coating the ugliness of the world. James Lee Burke would fit this bill, but I don't really like his writing style or the Dave Robicheaux character.
I guess I am still looking.
On the other hand, what I really wanted from this novel was a Harry Bosch novel set in the South. What I mean by this is that Bosch author Michael Connelly seems to be utterly in love with Los Angeles, and the city is a character in his novels. He recognizes that L.A. has a dark side but he completely loves it anyway because the city is so much more than its dark side. Ace Atkins on the other hand does not seem to love (or even like) the rural south about which he writes, nor does he seem to like the average people of the south. The south he writes about is a dark, corrupt, and hypocritical place that must be endured or escaped from. I want crime/detective/thriller fiction set in the South from a writer that loves the place and the people without sugar coating the ugliness of the world. James Lee Burke would fit this bill, but I don't really like his writing style or the Dave Robicheaux character.
I guess I am still looking.
September 15, 2018
This is probably the best of the five or six Quinn Colson novels I have read so far as it continues his habit of channeling William Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury" and other such Faulkner novels, updating them into the 21st century. SF is a family story, and this Colson novel makes the most of Quinn's family's ins and outs, with new revelations about Quinn's runaway father Jason at the center of things. The plot is OK, but not the big deal here.
Incidentally, once again Atkins has a character (here characters) get into a situation where they should die, but with a near-miraculous escape via deus ex machina. This is not so great. He can do better on this front.
Over all, though, this is much closer to the ideal Quinn Colson novel I have been waiting for.
Incidentally, once again Atkins has a character (here characters) get into a situation where they should die, but with a near-miraculous escape via deus ex machina. This is not so great. He can do better on this front.
Over all, though, this is much closer to the ideal Quinn Colson novel I have been waiting for.
August 1, 2024
Now I still hate most of the supporting cast, but damn if Atkins can't spin an exciting tale. A cold case is brought to Quinn's attention and the investigation stirs up a whole lot of trouble.
Meanwhile the head of a motorcycle gang who haunted Jericho 20 years earlier is about to get released from prison.
Meanwhile the head of a motorcycle gang who haunted Jericho 20 years earlier is about to get released from prison.
March 22, 2021
Good story and good characters. Well written and had me guessing through most of the book. Think I'm hooked on this series
January 27, 2021
3.75 stars
After he’s approached by one of the victims, Quinn Colson starts investigating a crime from the 1970s and quickly discovers there are a lot of people who want him to leave things alone.
This is the fourth book in Atkins’ Quinn Colson series and I had no trouble catching up with the characters and the setting. The plot was fine but there were a lot of characters to keep up with and I felt the writing was overly descriptive at times.
After he’s approached by one of the victims, Quinn Colson starts investigating a crime from the 1970s and quickly discovers there are a lot of people who want him to leave things alone.
This is the fourth book in Atkins’ Quinn Colson series and I had no trouble catching up with the characters and the setting. The plot was fine but there were a lot of characters to keep up with and I felt the writing was overly descriptive at times.
August 5, 2015
Continuing with the Mississippi theme in my summer reading, I turned to Ace Atkins' Southern noir series featuring former Army Ranger, now county sheriff, Quinn Colson.
Colson is the sheriff of fictional Tibbehah County in Northeast Mississippi, a place somewhere near Tupelo, birthplace of King Elvis. He heads a seven person police force, aided by his chief deputy, Lillie Virgil. From the county seat of Jericho, they do battle with the forces of evil in Tibbehah County, which seems to be a hotbed of sin and moral turpitude, not to mention political corruption.
Jericho and Tibbehah County are still recovering from a recent killer tornado that came close to leveling the town, but progress is being made, and, in some cases, the new Jericho being built is a great improvement over the old destroyed town.
Much of that improvement has come through the efforts of Johnny Stagg, District Supervisor and local businessman and, not incidentally, redneck crime lord. Stagg is behind much of that aforementioned sin, moral turpitude, and political corruption. But it can't be denied that he has aided in the rebuilding of the town.
Meanwhile, Sheriff Colson and Deputy Virgil are being investigated because of a big shootout that occurred at the end of the last book. (It does pay to read these books in order.) Colson's enemies see this as a chance to either get him out of office or to control him while he's in office, and there's another election coming up. It's all politics, but that doesn't make it any more palatable.
Into this frothy mix of disaster recovery and political intrigue comes news that a very bad guy, leader of a motorcycle club that created havoc in the town thirty years before, is about to be released from federal prison after serving his time. This is especially bad news for Johnny Stagg who sees the man as a mortal enemy and fears that when he returns to town he will try to take over from the current redneck crime lord.
Thirty years before, in 1977, something terrible happened in Jericho. Two young teenage girls were abducted along a county road. One was raped and both of them were shot. The younger of the two died. Law enforcement did not catch the man who did it, but shortly afterward, a black man, a stranger in town who had been living rough in the nearby national forest, was taken up by vigilantes, beaten and lynched. He was unknown. His name was never discovered. The vigilantes had convicted him of the abduction, rape, and murder. Later, the surviving victim saw the man who had actually committed the crime in town. The vigilantes had murdered an innocent man.
At the time of these crimes, the sheriff's office only did a half-hearted investigation, but now, the whole thing has been brought to light again because the surviving victim has talked to Sheriff Colson. He and Deputy Virgil are determined to get to the bottom of these very cold cases.
Johnny Stagg has become one of the most interesting characters in this series. He runs a "family restaurant" with a notorious strip club and truck stop located out back. He's trying to build up a drug pipeline, working with some of the Memphis mafia, and he has his fingers in every pie being baked in Tibbehah County. He's a sleazebag and a small town manipulator, masquerading as just another "good ole boy." He keeps looking for the key that will allow him to lock up control of the sheriff and his staff. If he can find it, he will have a totally free hand in building his crime empire.
Locking up Quinn Colson won't be easy though. He lives by the code he learned as an Army Ranger. He is the epitome of incorruptibility and morality. He has a lot of frustrations with the nuances of police work, but fortunately his excellent deputy has his back there. They make a good team.
Ace Atkins writes very knowledgeably about the area where these stories are set. It's an area I know well and I can attest that the language used by his characters and the opinions and attitudes expressed here are spot on. It all makes for a very noirish mix and an entertaining summer read.
Colson is the sheriff of fictional Tibbehah County in Northeast Mississippi, a place somewhere near Tupelo, birthplace of King Elvis. He heads a seven person police force, aided by his chief deputy, Lillie Virgil. From the county seat of Jericho, they do battle with the forces of evil in Tibbehah County, which seems to be a hotbed of sin and moral turpitude, not to mention political corruption.
Jericho and Tibbehah County are still recovering from a recent killer tornado that came close to leveling the town, but progress is being made, and, in some cases, the new Jericho being built is a great improvement over the old destroyed town.
Much of that improvement has come through the efforts of Johnny Stagg, District Supervisor and local businessman and, not incidentally, redneck crime lord. Stagg is behind much of that aforementioned sin, moral turpitude, and political corruption. But it can't be denied that he has aided in the rebuilding of the town.
Meanwhile, Sheriff Colson and Deputy Virgil are being investigated because of a big shootout that occurred at the end of the last book. (It does pay to read these books in order.) Colson's enemies see this as a chance to either get him out of office or to control him while he's in office, and there's another election coming up. It's all politics, but that doesn't make it any more palatable.
Into this frothy mix of disaster recovery and political intrigue comes news that a very bad guy, leader of a motorcycle club that created havoc in the town thirty years before, is about to be released from federal prison after serving his time. This is especially bad news for Johnny Stagg who sees the man as a mortal enemy and fears that when he returns to town he will try to take over from the current redneck crime lord.
Thirty years before, in 1977, something terrible happened in Jericho. Two young teenage girls were abducted along a county road. One was raped and both of them were shot. The younger of the two died. Law enforcement did not catch the man who did it, but shortly afterward, a black man, a stranger in town who had been living rough in the nearby national forest, was taken up by vigilantes, beaten and lynched. He was unknown. His name was never discovered. The vigilantes had convicted him of the abduction, rape, and murder. Later, the surviving victim saw the man who had actually committed the crime in town. The vigilantes had murdered an innocent man.
At the time of these crimes, the sheriff's office only did a half-hearted investigation, but now, the whole thing has been brought to light again because the surviving victim has talked to Sheriff Colson. He and Deputy Virgil are determined to get to the bottom of these very cold cases.
Johnny Stagg has become one of the most interesting characters in this series. He runs a "family restaurant" with a notorious strip club and truck stop located out back. He's trying to build up a drug pipeline, working with some of the Memphis mafia, and he has his fingers in every pie being baked in Tibbehah County. He's a sleazebag and a small town manipulator, masquerading as just another "good ole boy." He keeps looking for the key that will allow him to lock up control of the sheriff and his staff. If he can find it, he will have a totally free hand in building his crime empire.
Locking up Quinn Colson won't be easy though. He lives by the code he learned as an Army Ranger. He is the epitome of incorruptibility and morality. He has a lot of frustrations with the nuances of police work, but fortunately his excellent deputy has his back there. They make a good team.
Ace Atkins writes very knowledgeably about the area where these stories are set. It's an area I know well and I can attest that the language used by his characters and the opinions and attitudes expressed here are spot on. It all makes for a very noirish mix and an entertaining summer read.
April 12, 2016
This is another excellent addition to Ace Atkins' Quinn Colson series. In the first book, The Ranger, Colson, who served as a U.S. Army Ranger in Afghanistan and Iraq, returned home to Tibbehah County in northeastern Mississippi. Shortly thereafter, he was elected County Sheriff, and he has spent the first three books in the series wrestling with a series of challenges confronting the county and a number of personal problems as well, involving his immediate family.
These problems continue into the present volume. Because of their actions at the conclusion of the previous book, Quinn and his lead deputy, Lillie Virgil, are facing trumped up criminal charges that could cost them their jobs and send them both to prison. At the same time, County Commissioner Johnny Stagg, a corrupt old reprobate who controls virtually all of the vice in Tibbehah County faces a worrisome problem of his own. Twenty years ago, most criminal behavior in the area was run by a man named Chains LeDoux, the leader of an outlaw biker gang. Stagg was instrumental in sending LeDoux to prison before taking over most of the criminal activity in the area, but now LeDoux is finally being paroled and has made it clear that he intends to return home and take revenge against Stagg. Stagg has been a thorn in the side of Quinn Colson ever since Colson became sheriff and he now concocts a scheme attempting to use Colson to send LeDoux right back to prison.
Finally, an ugly incident from the county's past has now also reared its head again. Thirty-six years earlier, two young girls were attacked one night. One girl was raped; the other was murdered. While sheriff's deputies stood aside and watched, a mob trapped a man they believed to be guilty of the crime, then lynched him and set fire to the body. The girl who survived the attack has now returned home as a mature woman and has asked that the case be reopened, suggesting that the mob may have killed the wrong man.
Quinn Colson must wrestle with all of these problems while at the same time attempting to protect his own freedom and to sort out some very serious family issues that also have their roots deep in the past. It's a complex job and Atkins brilliantly weaves the threads of the story in a way that keeps the reader on edge from beginning to end. These are all engaging and believable characters and the setting of Tibbehah County is expertly rendered. The reader feels that he is riding right along side Colson as he drives the dusty county roads, fighting against the various corrupt forces that threaten both him and his home county. A great read.
These problems continue into the present volume. Because of their actions at the conclusion of the previous book, Quinn and his lead deputy, Lillie Virgil, are facing trumped up criminal charges that could cost them their jobs and send them both to prison. At the same time, County Commissioner Johnny Stagg, a corrupt old reprobate who controls virtually all of the vice in Tibbehah County faces a worrisome problem of his own. Twenty years ago, most criminal behavior in the area was run by a man named Chains LeDoux, the leader of an outlaw biker gang. Stagg was instrumental in sending LeDoux to prison before taking over most of the criminal activity in the area, but now LeDoux is finally being paroled and has made it clear that he intends to return home and take revenge against Stagg. Stagg has been a thorn in the side of Quinn Colson ever since Colson became sheriff and he now concocts a scheme attempting to use Colson to send LeDoux right back to prison.
Finally, an ugly incident from the county's past has now also reared its head again. Thirty-six years earlier, two young girls were attacked one night. One girl was raped; the other was murdered. While sheriff's deputies stood aside and watched, a mob trapped a man they believed to be guilty of the crime, then lynched him and set fire to the body. The girl who survived the attack has now returned home as a mature woman and has asked that the case be reopened, suggesting that the mob may have killed the wrong man.
Quinn Colson must wrestle with all of these problems while at the same time attempting to protect his own freedom and to sort out some very serious family issues that also have their roots deep in the past. It's a complex job and Atkins brilliantly weaves the threads of the story in a way that keeps the reader on edge from beginning to end. These are all engaging and believable characters and the setting of Tibbehah County is expertly rendered. The reader feels that he is riding right along side Colson as he drives the dusty county roads, fighting against the various corrupt forces that threaten both him and his home county. A great read.
August 3, 2014
This is the fourth book in the series featuring Quinn Colson, an Afghanistan War veteran who returns to his small-town roots in Jericho, Mississippi. He's followed his late uncle's footsteps by getting elected sheriff, although that seems to be where the similarities stop; his uncle, it seems, was known to be on the take, in cahoots with some very shady characters including Johnny Stagg, a very crooked local politician.
That past alliance returns with a vengeance here, as Colson and his very capable deputy Lillie Virgil get roped into investigating a hanging that took place 37 years ago. Back then, two teenage girls were abducted, with one raped and shot and the other murdered; soon thereafter, a black man thought to have been the culprit was horribly beaten and hanged by a group of local vigilantes. The killing was totally swept under the rug and stayed there until now, when the surviving victim - who later saw the man who murdered her friend and knows that the wrong man was hanged - finds the courage to reveal what she knows to Colson and ask for his help.
In the middle of the whole mess is Colson's long-estranged father, an off-and-on movie stunt man who left the family (including his wife/Colson's mother, Jean, and Colson's sister, Caddy) years ago. Meanwhile, the leader of a hell-raising motorcycle gang has been released after years in jail and makes a noisy and triumphant return to Jericho with his pack, intending to pick up where they left off. And as details of the long-ago murders begin to emerge, liaisons are unearthed that many think should remain buried, including a possible link to Colson's long-gone father.
As in all the other books, the characters here are the real story; every single one, including Colson, is flawed (some considerably more than others) - and watching how they interact and develop, for better or worse, is a big part of why the books are so good. This is another winner, and when the next one comes out, I'll be at the front of the line once again.
That past alliance returns with a vengeance here, as Colson and his very capable deputy Lillie Virgil get roped into investigating a hanging that took place 37 years ago. Back then, two teenage girls were abducted, with one raped and shot and the other murdered; soon thereafter, a black man thought to have been the culprit was horribly beaten and hanged by a group of local vigilantes. The killing was totally swept under the rug and stayed there until now, when the surviving victim - who later saw the man who murdered her friend and knows that the wrong man was hanged - finds the courage to reveal what she knows to Colson and ask for his help.
In the middle of the whole mess is Colson's long-estranged father, an off-and-on movie stunt man who left the family (including his wife/Colson's mother, Jean, and Colson's sister, Caddy) years ago. Meanwhile, the leader of a hell-raising motorcycle gang has been released after years in jail and makes a noisy and triumphant return to Jericho with his pack, intending to pick up where they left off. And as details of the long-ago murders begin to emerge, liaisons are unearthed that many think should remain buried, including a possible link to Colson's long-gone father.
As in all the other books, the characters here are the real story; every single one, including Colson, is flawed (some considerably more than others) - and watching how they interact and develop, for better or worse, is a big part of why the books are so good. This is another winner, and when the next one comes out, I'll be at the front of the line once again.
July 27, 2016
Jericho, Mississippi is recovering from a devastating tornado and dealing with the aftermath of a violent, far-reaching crime spree in "Forsaken", the fourth installment in author Ace Atkins "Quinn Colson Series". Sheriff of Tibbehah County, Quinn Colson is in badge-deep, helping his hometown clean up the ravages of the storm and dealing with allegations of his own culpability, along with his deputy Lillie Virgil, in the criminal conspiracy which left few unaffected. Adding to the tension of the situation is the looming shadow of a decades old crime, one which was never truly solved and which led to the brutal death of an innocent man. As Quinn tries to put all the pieces together from so long ago, he must fight to keep his name clear and the future of his position as sheriff from being cut short. With each new entry in this series, we learn more about Quinn's background and become more involved with his personal life. This time, the story is interspersed with flashbacks of his father, Jason, who was once a famous Hollywood stuntman, and who had long left his wife and children behind. As Quinn's investigation takes more twists and turns, it starts to hit closer to home, and answers he thought he wanted may be more than he expected. A first-rate read from author Ace Atkins, "Forsaken" definitely leaves readers wanting more of Quinn Colson and company and their adventures in Tibbehah County.
Review Copy Gratis Amazon Vine
Review Copy Gratis Amazon Vine
October 3, 2014
Not as strong an entry in the series as the second and third ones, "The Lost Ones" and "The Broken Places," this fourth novel in Ace Atkins' series about ex-Ranger-turned-sheriff Quinn Colson is still a compelling read.
The book takes place in the aftermath of the tornado and shootings that formed the electrifying climax of the last book. People are still coping with the damage done by the former, and Colson and his chief deputy are coping with the investigation into their actions in the latter, not to mention a looming election.
Atkins excels at creating great scenes -- quiet ones of people just talking and enjoying each other's company, or dramatic ones involving confrontations and gunplay. There are plenty of such scenes in "The Forsaken," including a climactic gun battle that seems like it came straight from a John Ford Western.
What's not there, however, is Atkins' usual propulsive plot. The investigation into who really raped and killed a girl in 1977 and who led the lynch mob that beat and hanged the wrong man in retribution for that crime pokes along at a snail's pace with very little in the way of suspense. We know early on who did the latter, and as for the former, it's resolved almost as an afterthought.
Nevertheless the book contains some crackling dialogue, as well as resolving one of the series' continuing mysteries: Whatever happened to Colson's Hollywood stuntman father?
The book takes place in the aftermath of the tornado and shootings that formed the electrifying climax of the last book. People are still coping with the damage done by the former, and Colson and his chief deputy are coping with the investigation into their actions in the latter, not to mention a looming election.
Atkins excels at creating great scenes -- quiet ones of people just talking and enjoying each other's company, or dramatic ones involving confrontations and gunplay. There are plenty of such scenes in "The Forsaken," including a climactic gun battle that seems like it came straight from a John Ford Western.
What's not there, however, is Atkins' usual propulsive plot. The investigation into who really raped and killed a girl in 1977 and who led the lynch mob that beat and hanged the wrong man in retribution for that crime pokes along at a snail's pace with very little in the way of suspense. We know early on who did the latter, and as for the former, it's resolved almost as an afterthought.
Nevertheless the book contains some crackling dialogue, as well as resolving one of the series' continuing mysteries: Whatever happened to Colson's Hollywood stuntman father?
August 15, 2014
Thirty-six years ago, a nameless black man wandered into Jericho, Mississippi, with nothing but the clothes forsakenon his back and a pair of paratrooper boots. Less than two days later, he was accused of rape and murder, hunted down by a self-appointed posse, and lynched.
Now evidence has surfaced of his innocence, and county sheriff Quinn Colson sets out not only to identify the stranger’s remains, but to charge those responsible for the lynching. As he starts to uncover old lies and dirty secrets, though, he runs up against fierce opposition from those with the most to lose—and they can play dirty themselves.
Even though this is the 4th book in the Colson series, this is the first one I have read and most likely the last. I found it more than a little cliqued … another Southern redemption story about past wrongs … ALWAYS racial. Plowing the same ground that Greg Ilies is tilling in his most recent novels. Found the characters little more than stage dressing … Colson the white knight, stoic ex-military sheriff; his tough, lesbian (of course) deputy; a local strip club owner who is a misunderstood businessman and politician, etc … etc …
Pretty tiring.
Now evidence has surfaced of his innocence, and county sheriff Quinn Colson sets out not only to identify the stranger’s remains, but to charge those responsible for the lynching. As he starts to uncover old lies and dirty secrets, though, he runs up against fierce opposition from those with the most to lose—and they can play dirty themselves.
Even though this is the 4th book in the Colson series, this is the first one I have read and most likely the last. I found it more than a little cliqued … another Southern redemption story about past wrongs … ALWAYS racial. Plowing the same ground that Greg Ilies is tilling in his most recent novels. Found the characters little more than stage dressing … Colson the white knight, stoic ex-military sheriff; his tough, lesbian (of course) deputy; a local strip club owner who is a misunderstood businessman and politician, etc … etc …
Pretty tiring.
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