Bitter Recoil [Hardcover]

Steven F. Havill (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1992

Recovering from a double bypass, undersheriff Bill Gastner of Posadas County, New Mexico, becomes a reluctant hero as he investigates a series of crimes that have plagued the town.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

An unusual setting, rural New Mexico, and a decidedly non-New Age sleuth give this second mystery from the author of Heartshot a few fresh angles. After bypass surgery, 62-year-old Undersheriff Bill Gastner should be taking it easy, laying off the beer, the rich food and the smokes. But he isn't. Instead he drives across the state to San Estevan to visit Estelle Guzman, his former deputy, for a big feed and a chance to talk over old times. But the trip becomes a busman's holiday when he agrees to help Estelle investigate the case of a battered, pregnant young woman found unconscious near a road at the bottom of a remote canyon. A hit-and-run? The injuries don't quite compute. When the victim dies, suspects include her lover's local hippie gang and a priest who fathered her young daughter. Deftly avoiding tourist traps as he steers his plot to its unpredictable resolution, Havill delivers an evocative tale of hard lives on the edge of society. His portly detective is a genuine low-key pleasure.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Pregnant Cecilia Burgess wasn't knocked off the San Estevan mountain road by a hit-and-run driver: she was tossed out of a moving pickup driven by five teenagers who are now being systematically eliminated. Aging, portly Posados County Undersheriff Bill Gastner, visiting his former deputy Estelle Reyes-Gutman in northern New Mexico, finds himself pulled into a revenge case strongly reminiscent of his debut in Heartshot (1991)--except that there's all too little doubt about who pulled the trigger (superannuated hippie boyfriend H. T. Finn? juvenile jailbird Robert Arajanian? alcoholic Father Nolan Parris?) or why. After poor marksmanship leaves one victim alive to testify, Estelle and Bill close in on the killer--only to set the stage for some more gunplay, a forest fire, and a rootin'-tootin' showdown in a Navaho mineshaft. Bill remains appealing in this dusty tour--more action than mystery/detection--of the Land of Enchantment. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 213 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; 1st edition (July 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312076568
• ISBN-13: 978-0312076566
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,711,289 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent series, November 2, 2008

By 

Eric C. Welch (Illinois) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Bitter Recoil (Posadas County Mysteries (Paperback)) (Paperback)

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.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended for lovers of Craig Johnson and C.J. Box, October 27, 2011

By 

Cathy G. Cole (Phoenix, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bitter Recoil (Posadas County Mysteries (Paperback)) (Paperback)

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!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Early Bill Gastner, January 3, 2010

By 

M. Johnston (Las Vegas, New Mexico United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Bitter Recoil (Posadas County Mysteries (Paperback)) (Paperback)

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.