Customer Reviews

Bitter Recoil (Posadas County Mysteries (Paperback))

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I ran across this series by Steven Havill a while back as a Books in Motion audiobook (now available through Audible) read by Rusty Nelson. They are straight police procedurals set in New Mexico. Nelson reads them with a marvelous gravely voice that is perfect for the character and setting. Havill has also written a series with the Undersheriff's deputy Estelle as the main character. They are all very entertaining and I plan on reading (listening) to the entire series. I highly recommend them.

First Line: I stopped at the top of the saddleback and looked down through the pines.

It's not often that Posadas County Undersheriff Bill Gastner takes a vacation, but he figures he's got one coming now. (Probably has something to do with his age and the quadruple bypass surgery he recently survived.) Gastner loads up his truck and heads for the mountains of northern New Mexico to visit his former detective, Estelle Reyes, who's upholding the law in San Estevan County.

Parked in a campground, Gastner's sleep is interrupted by sirens, and he suddenly finds himself reunited with Reyes and her new husband over the body of a young pregnant woman. At first she's thought to be a hit-and-run victim, but the autopsy reveals the truth: this young woman had been thrown from a moving vehicle after a rape attempt. Gastner tries his best to stay on vacation and off the case, but when four more deaths occur, there's no time for a vacation for this recuperating lawman.

Steven Havill has a deceptively smooth and easy style that had me hooked before I knew what was happening. His main character, Bill Gastner, is self-deprecating, funny, and absolutely relentless when it comes to hunting down the bad guys. Due to his age and that bypass surgery, he's also a very vulnerable character, which makes him a rare bird in the crime fiction world.

The other characters hold their own against him-- especially Estelle-- but it's Bill's show in the beautiful mountains of New Mexico. And those mountains remind me: Havill really pushed two of my buttons with this book. Mine shafts and forest fires are going to get my attention every time, and Bitter Recoil was no exception. Havill writes a lean, spare mystery filled with wonderful characters, a strong sense of place, and plenty of action.

This is a mystery series that my husband and I both enjoy, and it's not necessary to read the first book in the series to be able to follow what's going on in this second one. If you've caught up with Sheriff Walt Longmire and Joe Pickett of Wyoming, I suggest you head southwest to New Mexico and make Bill Gastner's acquaintance. He'll make sure you feel welcome!

Includes perspective of small town southern New Mexico life. Although some of the characters are exaggerated in some of their quirks, the types are clearly recognizable to those of us who live in New Mexico.

I have tried to read this book; however, it took more than the first chapter and more to get to the point. I think novels should begin with some sort of "bang" to hook readers in. His descriptions of the scenes he's setting are too mundance, which is boring. To me, they lend nothing to his story overall. They are just "words and more words". This is the second book I've tried to read, and the same thing as with the first book "Heartshot," I couldn't get much past the first chapter. Perhaps I may read a third book in the future; bbut it's very unlikely.