Jack Keller just can’t catch a break. Iraq war vet. Former
skip tracer. Bit of a temper and a real sense of right and wrong. Think of him
as a pony-tailed redneck Jack Reacher. He’s recently been paroled from an
Arizona prison and he’s come back to North Carolina to be near girlfriend
Marie, their 5yo son Francis and Marie’s teenage son Ben. Marie lives in rural
Harnett County south of Raleigh; probably the primary ethnicity of the county
is Redneck. She is a county cop serving as the high school resource officer.
[Jack and Marie have a history beyond Francis. Back when Ben
was about 5 or 6yo, Ben’s dad was hooked up with some really bad people. Jack
stepped in to help. In the final confrontation, Jack ended up killing Ben’s dad
and then executed the main bad guy. Ben watched both. Yeah, teenage Ben’s a little messed
up.]
Now back in NC, Jack is headed to the local high school to
interview for a job as the school custodian. On the way in, he sees Brandon, a real
turd, bullying Alia Khoury (and her little brother Bassim), steps in to help just before Marie arrives to cool things off. When Jack interviews with the
vice-principal, he’s turned away. Convicted felons not wanted.
Adnan Khoury and his children are Iraqi and managed to get out
right before Saddam fell. When Adnan finds out that Jack had helped his kids, he
offers Jack a job to watch over them. As Jack soon finds out, other folks
are also interested in the Khoury family.
The threads of treachery reach back to Iraq. It’s never
quite clear if the CIA or Homeland Security want him or are protecting him, adding to the ‘just who is the
bad guy’ debate. Two mercs have been contracted to find Adnan and the
contractor decides to bring in a second set . . . from Chechnya.
And for what? Probably money, and if that many folks are
after it, the final count must be substantial.
Rhoades has put together perhaps his most taught thriller to
date involving political issues, murder, and sadistic torture. And he put it
not in some third world shithole, but right here in our backyard (and I mean that
literally. I write this from the Raleigh area. Harnett County may be the next
county south of us, but it’s a world away from living in the capitol’s county.
Besides, Rhoades lives in Carthage in the next county west. He knows the people
and the lay of the land). I mentioned about that Keller is a Tar Heel Jack
Reacher. Has the same sense of right and wrong, the law be damned. He just doesn't ride around on a bus like Reacher. Those who
mess with Keller’s family and friends do so at their own risk. The setting, the
characters, the action all cement Rhoades in the throne of one of my favorite
literary genres as the Crown Prince of Redneck Noir. Rhoades is a bit under the radar and you are unlikely to find his books in the supermarket or the front table at Barnes and Noble. Seriously, if backwoods
country crime is your bag and you’ve not read J.D. Rhoades, you are really
missing out. This is the 7th Jack Keller book, so get moving.
East Coast Don
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