I do not know why I left this book pending for the time I did. Once I got past the first chapter, the story was absorbing and quite convoluted. This last part is a good thing that made the story unique, and I actually liked it.
As mentioned earlier, the first chapter or so focuses on Hogs and the problem they are creating in a small town. They are eating crops, amongst other things, and destroying property due to their size and numbers. People have been free reign to trap and kill them as necessary. They even feature in the background of every important scene throughout the book. In this odd situation, we meet a sad man who lost his job and his best friend at almost the same time. He follows it up with a need to protect the family the friend left behind. We have a handful of characters who make up most of the story, but each is their own brand of weird. Although this book is labelled a mystery, I saw it play out more like a drama with the emotional bonds between the various characters, causing different things to happen the way they did. Since the focus was so much on the people and their idiosyncrasies, I never even saw the twist coming, and when it did, I did not even treat it as one. The back and forth in time, however, was a little confusing and disorienting sometimes; otherwise, I would have liked the book even more.
Overall, this is a very different read and a reasonably quick one. If the blurb even sounds remotely interesting, I would recommend picking it up.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

Extreme is the best way to describe Randy Mayhill, former sheriff and current hermit. Extreme, with strict personal beliefs that make complete sense to him but not everyone. He means well and truly wants to be a hero - both the helping people part and the front page glory part. He doesn't begin as a particularly sympathetic character. It appears he must have been a rather incompetent sheriff. For a man who claims to love the law and deeply misses being sheriff, he never feels compelled to follow a law that doesn't suit his needs. But it's also clear he's in mourning and looking for a way to get his life back on track. Mayhill misses his friend Van, and wants to help Van's daughter and mother. Mayhill feels it's his duty to protect them even if he has to cross lines to do it. When Mayhill finds Birdie (Van's daughter) and Bradley (a young man working for their family) standing over the dead body of a stranger on Birdie's property, Mayhill doesn't think twice - calling the police is not an option. He immediately takes action to cover up the crime, but his cover up goes incredibly wrong leaving him in the position of having to investigate the crime. If Mayhill can crack the crime and get his name in the paper as a hero while also keeping Van's family out of it, it'll all be to the good.

The story is told from the points-of-view of Mayhill, Birdie, and Bradley. I particularly enjoyed Birdie and Bradley's perspectives. Both are young and not very worldly, but both are dealing with a lot - Birdie is grieving and attempting to navigate her grandma's grief; Bradley is grieving while doing all he can think of to get out of poverty and dealing with serious family problems. Really, everyone in this book was grieving something (a person, loss of safety/security, loss of position of authority and community respect), and they're all doing their best. How do you define morality when you're just trying to get by?

Recommended for fans of darker character-driven mysteries.

Content Warnings: SPOILERS suicide; begins with killing and gutting a hog; mental illness; drugs; racism; grief END SPOILERS

Thank you for the opportunity to read this. I will be posting a full review to Goodreads, Amazon, and Instagram.

A thrilling debut, Ain't Nobody Nobody follows small town former sheriff Mayhill as the dead body found strung up on barbed wire signals that something more devious is happening in his small Texas community. With gothic horror, feral hogs, and a sense of tragic comedy, this novel is perfect for fans of who dun it's, but also for those interested in the moral complexities of small town America.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Ain't Nobody Nobody is a remarkably promising debut novel from Heather Harper Ellett. Released 24th Sept 2019 by Polis Books, it's 320 pages and available in hardcover and ebook formats.

This novel's southern gothic Texas tragicomedy is hung on a skeleton of a murder mystery around whose gravity vortex swirls a potent mix of family, redemption, guilt, poverty, ignorance, pride, drugs, corruption, and small town East Texas life. The reviewers who have likened it to Breaking Bad meets Joe Lansdale with a touch of Faulkner are spot on.

For some (scheduling) reasons this book kept getting shoved around in my reviewing queue and I missed reviewing it at release. I sat down this weekend and read it start to finish and found it funny, sad, nostalgic, and human. The characters are well written and flawed and remain in character throughout. The plot drew me in from the beginning, and developed slowly but inevitably. The language and situations are rough in places, but not gratuitous.

This is a well written, intelligent, and engaging narrative, well delivered. It certainly doesn't read like a debut novel.

Five stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Pine County, Texas, 1996. The feral hog situation is rapidly becoming a plague of biblical porportions... and a dead stranger is found hanging on a barbed wire fence. Rural wisdom says damn the law - private land, private matter. Still, when the body seems to disappear all on its own it is something of a surprise to the three people who found it.

Former sheriff Randy Mayhill has spent the last year living in self-imposed exile. Ever since the death of his best friend Van Woods. Just getting fat, killing hogs, drinking Dr. Pepper and watching TV with a dachshund named Pat Sajak.

Birdie Woods, a seventeen year old girl "plain as bread, pleasant as gout". Since the death of her father, Van, her only relative is her grandmother Onie. Onie seems to be losing her grasp of reality.

Young Bradley Polk, a few years older than Birdie, used to do odd-jobs for Van. He followed Van around like a hungry puppy that had been given a meal. Since Van's death Bradley has continued to show up and do his job. It just seems like the right thing to do.

Ostensibly these three characters are the main focus of Ain't Nobody Nobody the debut novel by Heather Harper Ellett. But, even more than that, it's about the late Van Woods. The questions left behind by Van's suicide a year earlier. The struggles those closest to him have had coming to terms with the tragedy. The lack of his presence is everywhere... And besides that who was the dead guy hanging from the fence and how did he get there?

Ain't Nobody Nobody is that rare book that lives up to the hype. A work of literary fiction that is also a great mystery. Great plot. Fully realized characters. It's all there.

My one quibble is the amount of introspection each character engages in. It works and it fits the story well but, since my personal taste goes to a more streamlined narrative, it gets to be a wee bit much by the time it's all over.

Great book. Adult language and situations.

***Thanks to NetGalley, Polis Books, and author Heather Harper Ellett for providing me with a free digital copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis/blurb......

Still reeling from the scandal that cost him his badge, Randy Mayhill―fallen lawman, dog rescuer, Dr Pepper enthusiast―sees a return from community exile in the form of a dead hog trapper perched on a fence. The fence belongs to the late Van Woods, Mayhill’s best friend and the reason for his spectacular fall.

Determined to protect Van’s land and family from another scandal, Mayhill ignores the sheriff who replaced him and investigates the death of the unidentified man. His quest crosses with two others: Birdie, Van’s surly, mourning daughter, who has no intention of sitting idly by and leaving her father’s legacy in Mayhill’s hands; and Bradley, Birdie’s slow, malnourished but loyal friend, whose desperation to escape a life of poverty has him working with local criminals, and possibly a murderer.

A riveting debut novel about family and loyalty, old grudges and new lives, AIN’T NOBODY NOBODY is like a cross between Faulkner and “Breaking Bad”, from a talented new writer with an authentic Texas voice.
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My take.....

Family, friendship, loss, grief, regrets, duty, loyalty, dogs, hogs - lots of them, depression, scorn of a community, loss of respect, drugs, decisions and a dead body on a fence.

An enjoyable novel set in backwoods East Texas where the feral hogs outnumber the people. Former sheriff, Randy Mayhill feels guilt at the part he played in his friend's apparent suicide and aims for redemption when a dead body pitches up on his friend's land. Mayhill finds a sense of purpose. Discover the who and the why of the corpse and protect Van Woods' family. Simple enough, until the body disappears from under his nose.

A smallish cast of characters, well-developed and imperfect, each with their flaws and issues.....

Birdie - Van's daughter - young, intolerant of Mayhill, mourning her father, but impatient with her grieving grandmother, protective of Bradley her part time employee and possible friend,

Bradley - impoverished but not bereft of his small ambitions and dreams of something for himself one day, limited choices regarding earning money, poor personal hygiene (blame his mother), an ill-advised cannabis curator-cum-security guard-cum-harvester.

Mayhill - ex-police, a loner, living in disgrace, loves dogs, not averse to kidnapping them if he perceives neglect, poisoned his friend's cannabis crop and lost his job, gonna do his best for his friend's family.

Significant and minor others.......

Van - deceased but casting a long shadow over proceedings,

Birdie's grandmother - withdrawn, depression, mental disintegration or a mask, immersed in a funk with a constant diet of daytime television,

Dale - farmer, businessman, friend(?), employer, snitch, and a lot more besides

Dead body - a wife abuser, hog trapper, rumoured hit man

Storekeeper, his cronies, the sheriff, the police despatcher, Bradley's mother, the couple at the dump, employee #2 - name escapes me Jason(?), the buyer, the dogs - loyal and trusting.

A decent rural setting, there's a real sense of place about events.......the distances between neighbours, back trails and woodlands, overgrown, under used and at the mercy of the feral hogs, the hand-drawn maps, the gossipers in the store, everyone thinking they know your business and judgemental about it, not a place where national or international events would ever seem to resonate or have an impact on the lives of the characters.

I quite liked how this one unfolded from start to finish; the people we meet along the way, their motivations and the odd bit of scheming from a character or two, the way their ambitions affect other mostly passive participants. I was happy enough with the resolution of the book. There's closure without a particularly happy outcome for all we've become invested in.

Ain't Nobody Nobody is author Heather Harper Ellett's debut. I look forward to what she does next.

4.5 from 5

Read - November, 2019
Published - 2019
Page count - 167
Source - Net Galley, courtesy of published Polis Books
Format - ePub read on laptop

http://col2910.blogspot.com/2019/11/heather-harper-ellett-aint-nobody.html

Gotta Love a Hero Who's Addicted to Dr. Pepper!
What a crime story! This story is told in the slow back-woodsy style of the characters. The story slowly unfolds until the final reveal. Awesome, different and entertaining. I received this ARC book for free from Net Galley and this is my honest review.

Excellent book. Redneck poetry in this writer. Enjoyed the characters, book structure and pacing. An unexpected un-put-downable read.

This is a great murder mystery. It has a gritty style which creates a really vivid story. I would highly recommend to fans of darker literature but it wasn't quite my cup of tea.

Ain’t Nobody Nobody by Heather Harper Ellett

Tragedy seem to find many of the characters in this book. The existence of all seems to be difficult with little money or food not much to look forward to. What one is wiling to do to make money gets some into trouble. Suicide, Murder, mysteries, drugs and money may or may not balance out friendship, family and community in this story. I came away feeling a little bit dirty at the end of the book and wishing that there had been “more” for those who survived and also for those that didn’t. In the end, though the feral hogs were being trapped and killed it seemed they survived and thrived better than t he humans.

Was the book well written? Yes
Did I enjoy it? On the fence
Would I read more by this author? Maybe

Thank you to NetGalley and Polis Books for the ARC – this is my honest review.

3-4 Stars

Heather Harper Ellett’s debut, Ain’t Nobody Nobody, is a raw ode to East Texas and an authentic portrayal of the brutal, compassionate, hardscrabble way of life of the impoverished south. With wry humour and keen insight into human nature, Ellett deftly weaves a tale of murder, family, and honour.

Randy Mayhill lives as a hermit now, mourning the loss of his best friend to suicide and the loss of his elevated status in the community as sheriff to loyalty. The tragedies are intimately connected, and the plot unfolds in layers. A hog trapper is found murdered on his best friend’s land, and before Mayhill’s loyalty can lead him to covering up a crime—again—the body disappears. What ensues is a skillfully crafted mystery with each small detail woven into the narrative later revealing its relevancy.

The characters are appallingly real in a vein akin to Flannery O’Connor, and the sweltering, tick-laden pine forests of Texas come alive on the page. Ellett’s writing is intelligent and literary, clever and astute, inviting and darkly comedic. The twisted tangle of human emotion and motivation is deftly unraveled in Ellett’s hands.

Gritty, immersive, and evocative, Ain’t Nobody Nobody is a memorable tale, thoughtfully told, filled with humour and heartache. And after turning the last page, readers will want to crack open a Dr. Pepper and sit in a rocker on the front porch with their dog. 

Highly recommended for fans of murder mysteries with distinct settings and for fans of classic southern literature.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Polis Books for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this gritty mystery full of memorable characters. It reminded me of a combination of Breaking Bad and Longmire.
Loved it .

Nearly perfect. If the ending was just a bit more fitting for me I would have said this was 100% perfect, still giving it 5 stars because it is a worthy read and was a total wild ride.

Would love to see this adapted for tv. While reading it I had a sudden urge to have a Dr. Pepper which I haven't had in so long, can't imagine why. Went out and got a Dr. P and continued reading.

The characters in this book were great and I loved the setting. Nice touch with setting the book in the 90s, no technology needed here.

I definitely agree with the Joe Lansdale meets Breaking Bad description.