Wow! What a Read!

Normally, it takes me ten days to read a novel of this size. I can reduce this to five days, but this novel I finished in three days. I could not put it down.

The opening has a woman with her young son and daughter running through west Texas wilderness. They make it to a truck waiting for them, but not before the son is shot in the shoulder. The storyline shifts to the heroine, an ex-Texas Ranger, Arlo Baines, who has drifted into the fictional west Texas town of Piedra Springs. He was drinking in a local bar with an intoxicated local woman tries to pick him up and two cowboys playing darts. A swastika-tattooed skinhead who knows the woman and leaves later with the woman is even more intoxicated. A Baines decides to follow them out to the parking lot to see if he could save the woman but is waved off by the woman. Revealed by the departing truck is the woman with her two children asking him if he is the one they are supposed to meet. They are joined by the two dart playing cowboys, but it turns out that they were hired muscle who wanted the woman and children to come with them. Baines was told to leave. They didn’t and the two learned how it feels to be on the wrong end of being muscled. When he is finished, the woman and children have disappeared. Later the local sheriff finds and confronts him about two injured persons. The sheriff tells him that he will pick him up in the morning to take him to the bus station and watch him leave. The next morning, the sheriff takes him in because a woman was found with her throat slit behind the bar.

Baines decides to stay to look for the children. The local sheriff is not happy. Unfortunately, Baines keeps being involved in fights and finally a death. The sheriff is joined by Texax Ranger Aloysius Throckmorton who has a distinct dislike for Baines. Baines is joined by a New York Times reporter, Hannah Byrne, with an unusual connection to Piedra Springs. The storyline takes off from here and doesn’t stop until everything is wrapped up at the end. The action is rapid and kept my interest. The storyline definitely was not straight as Baines and Byrne navigate the dark side of this moribund community.

The major portion of the B-story is the backstory on how and why Baines left the Texas Rangers. It is revealed in several parallel chapters interspersed in the novel. Through interaction with the reporter Byrne, you learn her story more of the character of Baines. More is learned with his interaction with Throckmorton. All of this is woven into the main storyline that enriched my enjoyment in reading this novel.

The novel did leave two things unanswered. The first was something Baines saw, but it did not bother me at the end. The author addressed it in the novel as a mystery. The second appears almost as a segue into a follow-on novel.

As evidenced by my opening of my review, I enjoyed this novel very much. I strongly recommend reading it. I discovered that I had an earlier work by this author. I want to read it now. I rate this novel with five stars.

I have received a free kindle version of this novel through NetGalley from Thomas & Mercer with a request for an honest, unbiased review. I wish to thank Thomas & Mercer for the opportunity to read this novel early.

Arlo is a former Texas Ranger. He has not gotten over the death of his wife and daughter and has been traveling parts of Texas. He also just wants to be left alone. This all ends when he steps off the bus in a small town named Piedra Springs. It is here that he is confronted by a woman and her two children for help. Seeking them out after he first walks away, he can only find her two children. When he begins to ask questions to the sheriff in town looks to him as the primary suspect. This only adds to his suspicion that something is definitely wrong. Deciding without really any choice he begins to look into the reasons behind why he cannot find the woman who asked for help in the first place. The story is for people that like Jack Reacher and those types of books. I found this to be an excellent story with very good characters.

Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of The Devil's Country. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

Piedra Springs is small-town Texas and Arlo Baines is just passing through. Recently discharged from the Texas Rangers, Arlo cannot turn off his need to help others when approached by a disheveled woman and her two kids. Trouble ensues, with its bulls-eye focused strongly on Arlo. Will he be able to find out what happened to Molly and her kids or will the increasing danger place Arlo Baines in the cross hairs? Will the help of another outsider, a reporter with personal reasons for being involved, give Arlo the true perspective of the secretive town?

Arlo Baines reminded me of Jack Reacher and, once the parallel was made, I found it difficult to see Arlo as anything but an approximate copy. The story flowed nicely, but the similarities to the aforementioned main character and series had me playing the comparison game as I read. That being said, I did like how the author gave Arlo's backstory, unfolding it as the book progressed. Readers are really able to get a feeling for his character, flawed but strong willed and determined. A small town being paid to keep the secrets of the powerful is nothing new, though, so I was not really all that drawn in by the plot. Readers who like mystery/thrillers and suspense may like The Devil's Country for its fast pace and interesting main character.

The Devil's Country sets up with the best of intentions. The hero of the story just wants everyone to leave him alone so he can get back to his book. A man after my own heart.

The characters sometimes veer a little towards cliches (diversity notwithstanding, though appreciated). Dialogue veers even more into cliche country. Earl's, the town restaurant/diner where everyone goes, is adorned with posters of John Wayne ad WWII bombers. Heck, a townsman even calls someone "partner" at one point.

Our protagonist Arlo is himself a cliche, although a heartbreaking one. The lone man on the righteous path. He carries his past like an albatross. It colors and darkens every interaction, every thought, every breath.

There's something to be said for the modern western. The Devil's Country is a suspenseful walk through a well-loved genre. While we do expect new and innovative ideas, it would sure be a shame if there wasn't at least one tumbleweed rolling around somewhere. This book delivers that, plus a gut-punch of a plotline.

Ultimately, the book is not my personal preferred brew. But I'm sure someone else will mosey along and love it more.

This mystery is a good, quick read--a nice change of pace from some heavier reading. The hero of the story is Arlo Baines, a former Texas Ranger, who is traveling the countryside by bus, seeking solitude and anonymity after the murder of his wife and children. Arlo is strong and intelligent and able to handle himself in most any situation--yes, very much a Jack Reacher kind of guy, so if you enjoy those stories, you'll probably also enjoy this book.

There are really two stories here and Arlo relates them both in first-person narrative. In the present day, he decides to get off the bus in the small town of Piedra Springs, TX and almost immediately gets involved with helping a desperate woman and her children. When she is found murdered the next morning, the local sheriff of course suspects the new man in town. Who owns the sheriff and what is really going on in the dying little town?

The other half of the story, told in flashbacks, is about what happened to Arlo's family. These memories are bittersweet, filled with the mistakes people make that can lead to tragedy. Perhaps Arlo can redeem himself by helping others in trouble?

The ancillary characters add more dimension to the story. Arlo meets a young journalist from NYC named Hannah, who seems to be following the same trail of clues to the mystery as Arlo but from a different direction and the two make a great team, creating some humorous moments and a whiff of romance. I hope Hunsicker will consider bringing her back if this becomes a series.

A note of warning to sensitive readers: When Arlo and Hannah figure out what is really going on in Piedra Springs, it's pretty shocking and unthinkable, so please bear that in mind.

I received an arc of this book through NetGalley but never got around to reading it in a timely manner. I apologize to the publisher and author for that slip. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys lots of action with an intriguing mystery.

A fast paced read with a former Texas Ranger getting involved in a mystery of a small town he stopped into. We have two stories here - where he is now and what has happened in his past. They're both quite fascinating in their own right. His tragic past that leads to a tragic ending. I did like Arlo as a character and personally love reading anything to do with cults. If you enjoy that fast paced read with a darker punch at the end, you'll like this one.

Gripping. I loved the piecemeal way of getting the main character's background. I thought he was compelling and would read more of his adventures as he travels around Texas. I devoured this book

Nine months after his family was murdered and eight months after being discharged from the Texas Rangers, Arlo Baines has become a drifter. Rambling across Texas by bus, getting off when he gets the urge to stretch his legs... doing what he wants when he wants.

This time Arlo finds himself in Piedra Springs, a tiny West Texas town located in the badlands between Odessa and Sonora, "a long way from anywhere that mattered." All he really wants is a quiet corner, a good book, maybe a cup of coffee or a beer. But, there wouldn't be much of a story to tell if that happened, would there?

Before he knows it Arlo Baines gets mixed up with the murder of a mysterious woman, the disappearance of her two young children, Russian mobsters, and the enigmatic Silas McPherson who is somehow connected with a powerful religious cult.

Fast paced novel told in the first person by former Texas Ranger Arlo Baines. Not the most original plot but it all comes together fairly well. There is a bit of a Jack Reacher-type thing going on here, though Harry Hunsicker is not quite as gifted a writer as Lee Child (no offense intended). Think of it as a sort of streamlined version of a Reacher novel or perhaps Jack Reacher-lite.

I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Lee Child or similar authors.

There is some sexual content, harsh language and violence.

***Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this title

I'm always up for a good "let's go investigate the mysterious cult on the hill" novel, so this book hooked me from the first chapter. Unfortunately, the cult became kind of a secondary plot line and didn't receive the attention it deserved, considering that most of the action of the novel wouldn't have happened without the members of this cult behaving the way they did. Most of the plot focused on Arlo, a former Texas Ranger, trying to track down two kids who might have escaped from the cult, but might have also gone back to the compound. Several chapters switch back and forth between Arlo's current search and his past, which leads up to the murder of his family (not a spoiler; it's one of the first things you learn about him). While the story itself is good, the three plot lines feel too separated from each other, as though the author is trying to tell three mostly unrelated stories. I almost think it might have worked better if the author had delved more deeply into the various plots and turned this into two or three books; that way each plot could receive adequate attention.

The Devil's Country is a Jack-Reacher-type story set in Texas. Since the murder of his family, former Texas ranger Arlo Baines has been moving from town to town wanting to be left alone to catch up on his reading. Arriving in a tiny town in West Texas, Arlo becomes involved in an altercation between a couple of thugs and an oddly dressed woman and her two children. When the woman is found dead the following morning, Arlo becomes a suspect but vows to find out what happened to the two children.
This was your typical lone ranger takes on entire town scenario involving an obscure cult, corrupt cops, a female journalist who could become a potential love interest and turns into something like his sidekick and the Russian mafia (with the stereotypical Boris for good measure). Through flashbacks, the reader discovers Arlo's back-story and what exactly happened to his family.
It was a little crammed with formulaic stuff, the back and forth made it choppy in parts, and the repetitiveness of the character announcing 'this is what I'll do' followed by a sentence where he is then actually doing this exact thing became a little wearing.
On the other hand, some passages and descriptions were really well done, the setting was atmospheric and it contained some nice humor.
If you're looking for some light entertainment and fancy a good old action movie type novel with a hero who will destroy all evil then this should appeal. There was nothing much wrong with it, but there also wasn't anything special or innovative. I liked it well enough, hence 3 stars.
I was invited to read an ARC and opinions expressed are entirely my own. Thanks to the publisher.

Arlo Baines is an ex Texas ranger. After his wife and children are murdered by crooked cops a lot of people think he got away with murdering the cops. He has been wandering from place to place, running from the memories of his families death. He stops ina small Texas town and helps a woman and her two children get away from two men. The next morning the woman is found murdered and Arlo is the prime suspect. The children are missing and no one in town will admit knowing the woman and no one is looking for the children. The more questions he asks the more walls Arlo runs into. There is something very wrong in this little Texas town.

The book goes from present to the past, showing you Arlos history and what happened to his family. This is a good mystery that will hold a readers attention. It is my first book by this author and based on this book I would read another. Thank you to net galley for a copy of the book.

This is a page turner- think along the lines of a thriller with a damaged hero on a quest. It's well written. Not deep or life changing but it's also very plot driven, which makes it perfect for travel. Arlo is a good character and you will definitely understand his perspective on these events. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

All Arlo wants is to be left alone. Since his family was murdered has he been drifting from place to place and now he has come to Piedro Springs. What he didn't anticipate were the woman begging him to help her and her children and neither did he anticipate everything that happens next. The woman ends up dead and the sheriff seems less than thrilled about having Arlo in his town. This is a town with secrets, secrets that they are hellbent on keeping, but Arlo will not give up his hunt for the woman's children's.

The Devil's Country is a thrilling book about a man with a tragic past. In many ways did Arlo Baines reminded remind me of Jack Reacher especially since the last Reacher book I read had a similar concept as this one. I quite liked Arlo. Arlo's life as a Texas Ranger ended when his family was murdered and we get the full story in this book in flashbacks to the past.

The missing kids and the woman that were killed belonged to a cult and there is something wrong with it. However, the cult basically owns half the town so it's hard to get anyone to talk. But, there is a journalist there whose sister joined the cult and together they try to find out what happened to the children as well as the journalist's niece.

Lots of action, an interesting story, and a very tragic ending. I liked this book and I liked Arlo. I hope to read more books with him because he was such an interesting character and I would like to see some happiness in his life again.

This is my first book by this author but I would be happy to read another. The blurb really piqued my interest and I wasn't disappointed when I read it.
Arlo has lost his family, an ex-texas Ranger, he's a bit lost, so he hops on a bus to see where it takes him. On alighting in a small town, he runs into a woman with her small children. They appear to be in distress and, being a good guy, he tries to help her, especially when a couple of strange men appear intent on harming her. Next morning however, she turns up dead with no sign of the children. Due to his altercation of the previous day, guess who's in the frame for that!? And thus begins a rather interesting mystery... where did she come from? who was she running from and why? and, more importantly, where are her children? The authorities do not share his concern however so it falls to him, and a strange woman he meets along the way, to get to the bottom of what appears to be a bit of a conspiracy.
Well, this book certainly hit the ground running and pretty much didn't let up until the very last page. I really admired Arlo's tenacity and, of course, guts as he could easily have just walked away from the situation. Took the law's advice and hopped back on that bus outta town, but I guess losing his own family made him all the more determined to get to the bottom of things and, once a Ranger, always a Ranger!
Interspersed between the present day's action, we also had flashbacks to Arlo's past. What happened to him, his family and why he is an ex-Ranger. i found these lent more credence to his present day actions and also rounded the character out very well. Other characters were equally well drawn and I found the majority easy to connect to.
I do admit that it did take a little while to get used to the style of writing but, once it clicked, I went on to devour the book. I guess at the end of the day it was a tad on the formulaic side but, the formula works so why try and re-invent it? Yes it might have followed rules but it did so in a very well crafted way and definitely ticked most of the boxes I need for a good read so I can well forgive the odd cliche.
All in all, a good solid read, one that has me interested enough to check out the author's back catalogue.

My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Here is a narrative that sucks you in with the first word… the first sentence… the first paragraph. You get the picture. It starts out pretty ordinary, yet not so ordinary and builds from there… word by word, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, page by page. Before you know it, a quarter of the book is behind you, but you keep on reading. It is a quietly violent story. If you are a fan of the old Eastwood man-with-no-name westerns, you know what I mean.

I was most impressed by the way Hunsicker built the story. He tells you everything you need to know about the main character, Arlo Baines, at exactly the time you need to know it. In fact, there is Arlo's story and the situational story told in tandem so that by the end of the book you, the reader, are both satisfied with the outcome and want to follow the character further along his journey in life. THE DEVIL'S COUNTRY is, in every sense, a real page turner.

Has there ever been a religious cult started for something other than allowing the leaders to have sex with the congregation?

Arlo Baines is wandering the state of Texas in an effort to forget the murder of his family. The former Texas Ranger sees a couple of guys up to no good, and starts making trouble in the neighbourhood. He gets in one little fight and has the local sheriff and a religious cult wanting to see him leave (for Bel Air).

It was refreshing to dive into a different take on the itinerant vigilante genre. Obviously there are similarities between any of the novels in this genre, the most prominent being Lee Child's Jack Reacher series (of which I'm a fan). But Harry Hunsicker has brought a more haunted and reluctant hero to the page, one who feels a little more vulnerable, but no less unstoppable.

This is a fast-moving novel which hits all the right beats. While it doesn't stray from the itinerant vigilante genre path, nor offer up any surprising twists, The Devil's Country was an enjoyable read. Recommended for any fans of Lee Child, Matt Hilton, Zoe Sharp, et al. 4/5 stars.

NB: I received an advance review copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.
NB: Amazon reviews still to be added as soon as the system allows.

Taut, suspenseful, fast-moving. I could not put it down!

The Devil's Country by Harry Hunsicker is a well written mystery that unfortunately just doesn't offer up anything to separate it from the thousands of other novels in this genre. It is far too formulatic; lone stranger in town, ex law enforcement who wants to be left alone, stumbles onto a crime he just cannot turn his back on and now must step in and save the day where local law enforcement and the FBI cannot. Add to it a backstory for the main character that distracts from what is really the story here.

Arlo Baines is an former Texas Ranger, moving from town to town as he tries to put the murder of his wife and children behind him. The events surrounding those murders has made Arlo a pariah among law enforcement as not only were his family killed, but several decorated police Detectives died as well. Now Arlo just wants to be left alone as he travels in the rural towns of Texas. That is, until he finds himself in the west Texas town of Piedra Springs and a chance encounter outside the local bar he cannot turn his back on.

Now Arlo finds himself the primary suspect of the murder of a woman and with her two children missing, something the local police don't want to seem to dig too far into. He is told to leave town but Arlo can't. He needs to find out who murdered the woman and what happened to her two children. A crime that reminds him deeply of what happened to his own family.

But when the FBI shows up, Arlo's past gets dragged in as well and now he has the police, the FBI and a suspicious town to deal with. But the question seems to be what has the religious cult just outside of town have to do with the missing children and the dead woman. Then the new men in town who look like Russian mob. And there is that reporter who seems to know a little too much about the town and Arlo.

Time is running out for the missing children and Arlo has to decide how involved he wants to get before its too late.

As a story and as a character, Arlo will suffer from the obvious comparisons to the likes of Jack Reacher and Charlie Parker. The manner in how he deals with the murders of his family seems hard to understand. Riding from town to town on a bus with no where in particular to go? Being ostracized from law enforcement because he takes revenge on the ones who murdered his wife and kids? Now to be in a town that lives in fear of a religious cult with dead women and missing children that no one seems to want to look into? Any one of these plots would have made for a good book, but all of them in one is somewhat overwhelming and as a reader, you lose the suspension of belief. At that point you can only hope that the writing alone is good enough to carry forward and in this case, it just isn't.

The Devil's Country is not a bad book, it just isn't a very good one. And in this genre, there are just too many good ones out there.

This was my introduction to Harry Hunsicker, and I was not disappointed. I really enjoyed this murder mystery/thriller. I'm not sure why, but seeing the cover and reading the description, I was hoping for a No Country for Old Men feel, but I definitely enjoyed this one! The characters were well developed and written, and it wasn't one that I could easily predict the ending.

Former Texas Ranger Arlo Baines moves to a tiny West Texas town of Piedra Springs after his wife and children were murdered. Arlo just wants to be left alone, and he's discovered that moving from place to place is the only thing that eases the pain of his family’s violent end.

But one night, a chance encounter outside a bar forces him to rescue a woman and her children from mysterious attackers. Arlo finds himself as the primary suspect/person of interest the next day when the woman turns up murdered the next day and her children have gone missing. No only is he a suspect in a murder, but he is a suspect in a murder almost identical to what happened to his wife and children. In order to clear his name, Arlo decides that he must find the missing children. On his journey to find the kids he begins to uncover long buried secrets of Piedra Springs which puts him at more of a risk.

I've always enjoyed these types of thrillers. The whole, "did the kids really exist in the first place" kind of storyline is a fun one to follow. Not only do we question their existence, but it makes you question the credibility of Arlo.

A big thanks to the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

A former Texas Ranger comes into a dying town simply because he was tired of being on a bus. The night he arrives he attempts to "save" a free wheeling woman from her NeoNazi ex boyfriend (she didn't want rescuing), is assaulted by two bad-doers when he attempts to help a woman and her two children they are chasing and survives a tornado. The next day, the second woman is found murdered. He starts to investigate the situation and havoc ensues. I won't go into detail because of spoilers, but found this novel to be engrossing. A sub story is told throughout that explains his departure from the Rangers and is equally well told. Lots of action and a protagonist who has the potential to be a new Reacher. I hope the author does some follow ups for our hero. Thanks to Net Galley and Thomas and Mercer for an ARC for an honest review.