Sheriff Heidi Kick, of Wisconsin's Bad Axe County, must deal with House of Shalah, a religious cult in this stellar addition to this series. The religious group takes over an empty storage facility. Tensions rise in the community not happy with the group fearful of possible Jonestown or Waco like actions.

One of Heidi's deputies "roughs up" the leader of the cult, Prophet-Father Euodoo Koresh, because she believed he possessed illegal narcotics, which he did not. The deputy is suspended by Heidi, but is later reinstated. The deputy's husband forms an anti-House of Shala vigilante group. It is not long after one of the members is found dead in the river. In addition Heidi must also deal with a person from her past who is looking for revenge.

Heidi has her hands full. She is a flawed, but determined character trying to do what is right. She has overcome alcoholism and drug addiction.

The story moves quickly, I didn't want to put it down. John Galligan's writing is a joy to read. This can be read as a stand alone but I highly recommend the previous novels in this series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books an ARC. The review is my own.

This review was originally posted on <a href="http://booksofmyheart.net/2022/09/11/%f0%9f%8e%a7-bad-day-breaking-by-john-galligan/" target="_blank"> Books of My Heart</a>
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<i>Review copy was received from NetGalley, Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.</i>

<strong>Bad Day Breaking</strong> was a bad day for many people.  There was so much hate and evil happening.  Heidi as sheriff has too much on her plate.  Her mother-in-law, a insubordinate, litigious deputy, a cult, paroles who are back to crime, and a hate group.  She makes a few bad choices which spiral into lots of trouble but she does manage to protect most of the town.

We get primarily Heidi's point of view, but we do get the point of view from one of the women in the cult.  I felt sorry for the women and children in the cult.  The heads were taking all the money and sex and now were planning to get away.  They bought in four paroles to help them with the details and that's when everything went downhill.   There's plenty of gritty and horrifying all around.

Heidi is also having to deal with a guy she put away in prison who now is trying to kill her for revenge.  A dead body turns up from the cult.  Her mother-in-law is a constant problem and then goes missing.  Luckily, Heidi is smart and figures out most of the issues.  Luckily she has some support and honest co-workers.

It is very suspenseful and people get hurt including Sheriff Heidi.  She is smart enough to protect her family except for her renegade mother-in-law who goes her own way.   I appreciate how honest and hard working Heidi is.  I just don't know what she will do now or if the <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/300507-bad-axe-county" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em><strong>Bad Axe County</strong></em></a> series will continue.

A Beautifully written and compelling story. Sheriff Heidi is such a raw character and I have enjoyed learning more about her.
Many thanks to Atria Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is my bad for not realizing that this was a part of a series. There were a lot of characters to remember and get to know. It probably would have helped if I had some background. Didn’t matter though. I became a fan and I am ordering those first books. This is just weird little town. And that is coming from a person who lives in a weird small town. I have some appreciation for our sheriff.

Heidi Kick is a former drug-addicted alcoholic who ran with the wrong crowd. Coming back from her downward spiral following the death of her parents, long sober and on the right side of the law, Heidi is now Sheriff of Bad Axe County. A radical religious sect sets up in a storage facility on an empty lot in Bad Axe. She has no use for this kind of cult-like group on her watch, but she disapproves of the way the people of Bad Axe parade around with banners and threats of “Kill the Cult.” Rumors are spreading, and county residents are terrified that the cult will take over schools and local government, or that another Waco, Texas mass suicide/murder will take place. When one of the cult followers is found dead in the river, the people begin to panic. To top off the situation, an old “boyfriend” of Heidi’s has made parole and is hell-bent on revenge for the twelve years he spent behind bars and the life he believes Heidi stole from him. Add in a horrendous snowstorm, threats of violence, and being chased by the man who wants her dead, Heidi is in grave danger of losing her career, freedom, family, and life.

First of all, I must say the prose is so beautiful in the novel, lyrical, almost poetic, which for a thriller seems an odd thing to say. It’s a captivating story that grabs you and fully immerses you to the very end. The parallels drawn between Bad Axe and Waco are detailed and terrifying, and those who risked their lives to save others involved are exemplary and surprising in many cases. It’s a tale about the dangers of following the wrong people blindly, and also about the strength of those who rise above past mistakes. I am very glad to have been introduced to the Book 4 of Bad Axe County, and only regret that I didn’t join at Book 1. It reads beautifully as a stand-alone novel as well.

I’d like to thank NetGalley, John Galligan, and Atria/Simon & Schuster for the ability to read and review this ARC.

I did not read the first books in this series, but felt like I picked up things quickly here. This was a twisty well written mystery that kept me guessing! I really enjoyed it!

Small town, with interesting street names like U-Stash-it Road. Present are a religious cult, released convicts and an old boyfriend who wants to get even. A sheriff with a rough history has changed for the good, while some of her deputies do all they can to sabotage her career. And an FBI agent, unable to separate himself from Waco’s Branch Davidian massacre, struggles to avert the same disaster here.
This is as murky story. The sect is predictively secret; what are they hiding besides their strange religion? Drugs? Guns? What is Father-prophet doing up there in his luxurious RV? Add one, plus a second probable murder, and we have a guessing game of who’s forefront and center. Volatile locals bent on eliminating this new taint ramps up the angst, setting the stage for a major blow-up. It seems to stem from the Sheriff shooting a recently released ex- boyfriend in the back. This haunts her, more than the fact that he left her, sinking in quicksand, to die. Is being truthful and owning up to her own crime worth saving her job? While her family prepares for Thanksgiving and her alcoholic mother-in-law spins off in her own misery, she maneuvers thru this worst of days. Can any of this become a cohesive story? In a span of about 48 hours s#!%t hits the fan. This is the bad day breaking. Who will survive, and who will succumb?
Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for allowing me access for my honest review.

I didn’t realize there were 3 books before this in a series and I would much rather read them in order to fully understand what’s going on-

I received this from Netgalley.com.

"Sheriff Heidi Kick may not be a fan of the new cult in town, but she is also dismayed by the hostile reaction of the Bad Axe community. "

I had a hard time getting to know the characters and realized half-way through that this is a series, and this is the fourth book! 💡 I enjoyed reading this enough to want to start at the beginning of the series.

2.75☆

I love this series, Sheriff Heidi Kick is such a badass and in this story, number 4 in the series, she will need all her unique skills to get through the issues she faces. There is a cult that has taken up occupation of a abandoned storage facility at the edge of Bad Axe county, though the cult considers themselves to be a religious community, most of the town disagree. A member of the cult turns up dead and Sheriff Kick's deputy is assigned to the initial investigation. Meanwhile, a person from Sheriff Kick's past has recently been released from prison and is on the hunt for her because of their shared history. There is a lot going on in this book and if you haven't, you should read the previous ones in the series to understand both Heidi's backstory and the town. There is also a lot of discussion around the incident at Waco TX with David Koresh and the similarities to what happens in Bad Axe, a retired ATF agent is also in Bad Axe, having been in contact with a person in the cult who he hopes would be able to provide evidence against them and prevent another Waco from happening. The action in this book is non stop and builds to quite the finish, I only hope the series continues, the ending was a bit ambiguous. Thank you to #Netgalley and #Atria Books for the ARC.

I did not realize that this was part of a series. I am going to set this book aside until I can get the first three books read.

John Galligan’s “Bad Day Breaking” is an exceedingly well-written mystery/thriller. Set in rural Wisconsin just as winter is beginning, it is a very dark and gritty tale.

A radical religious group, led by an aging but strangely charismatic high priest, has come to Bad Axe County and taken up residence in the unheated units of a self-storage facility while its members build community housing. Some of the more xenophobic citizens of Bad Axe County want them gone before they can take over the town and are threatening violence against the cult.

Sheriff Heidi Kick wants to prevent that violence. She and retired ATF agent Duke Hashimoto also wish to prevent the situation from turning into another Jonestown or Waco, a real possibility since cult members have sworn a suicide pact.

Amidst this turmoil, a cult member is found brutally murdered. As Heidi investigates, a man from her troubled teenage past is released from prison. She helped send him there and now he’d like his revenge. That’s if her mutinous deputy doesn’t throw her in the town jail for attempted murder first.

Clearly, there’s a lot going on. But author John Galligan is quite successful at weaving all these disparate strands into an exciting plot. His prose is a pleasure to read. Lyric in places, rhythmic in others, it adds immeasurably to his story (much like author James Lee Burke's prose adds to his stories). As does his treatment of the setting, which reminded me a little of works like “Fargo” and “In Cold Blood.” He’s also done a great job creating characters we can root for as well as detest. The novel moves along at a pretty good clip and involves high stakes, especially for Heidi, and lots of tension and danger.

However, the story is very dark. It examines topics that some may find objectionable, including a fair amount of violence (including murder), cult dynamics, the Waco and Jonestown incidents, child pornography and abuse, civil unrest, and mass suicide. And it is reflective, in microcosm, of some of the political tensions and strife we’ve been experiencing in this country over the past several years.

My thanks to Net Galley, author John Galligan, and publisher Atria Books (Simon and Schuster) for providing me an ARC. The foregoing is my independent opinion.

This is book 4 of the Bad Axe County series, and it removes any questions about the series. It is a roller coaster ride that has the reader both rooting for Heidi and worrying she will not survive the events unfolding in the book. With what seems like 7 lives gone already from the previous books, Heidi is both aware that her job is still on the line and if current events keep unfolding, her days as Sheriff are over, and as a deputy as well. With the amount of evil that has purvaded Heidi's entire adult life, and Bad Axe County, it'sa wonder either are still functioning. It's an honest book in many ways about modern life, and readers of the series will be happy to see some trails from the past resolved, Don't miss this book!

Thank you for this ARC! Enjoyed every bit! It was a bit slow in the beginning, but grew on me throughout the book. I haven’t read anything else by this author, but plan to in the future!!

I want to thank @netgalley and @simonandschuster for the ARC. This is a new author for me and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was fast paced and engaging. If you like books about cults, this one is for you.

"Well everybody's got a secret," sang Springsteen on the title track from his Darkness on the Edge of Town album. It could just as easily be about Bad Axe County. There is certainly a darkness which has enveloped the place and it can't be just because of polka music. Seriously, there are some tragically flawed characters populating this book. Their foibles make them human in this tale where different degrees of ugliness rear their ugly heads. Galligan does a good job capturing the dashed dreams of small town America. The book will grab your interest (and make you glad you don't live there). Thank you to Atria Books for the ARC which was provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so good! I want to see more from this author in the future!! I couldn't put this book down. What a page turner!!!

I've never read a John Galligan book before, so I didn't have the advantage of having encountered the setting and protagonist of BAD DAY BREAKING prior to this. I can't speak to Galligan's other books, but this book didn't work for me. The point of view choices were strange at times, and they often felt like they were slipping. The writing was choppy. I didn't sympathize with Heidi because of many of her choices. I just couldn't get into this one.

Bad Day Breaking has an exciting plot that suggests a good read, but the choppy writing style and plethora of characters make it a DNF.

Loved this gritty novel about a small town sheriff trying to keep her town from devolving into violence, and to keep herself and her family safe from the man who victimized her as a teen. Sheriff Heidi Kick's town has a cult living in a storage facility and a renegade group of 1st amendment activists sure that they are trying to take over the town. When one of the cult members ends up murdered, Kick must solve the murder quickly before the simmering pot boils over. At the same time, a man from Kick's past is released from prison and she makes a series of poor decisions that puts her life and career in increasing jeopardy.

A couple of times I wanted to scream at her in frustration - which is not necessarily a bad thing in a novel like this - realistic protagonists often make incredibly poor decisions. This was a satisfying novel despite some dark and gritty moments. If you are looking for an intense mystery that will keep you reading and interested - this is a good one for you.