I read this book because of the recommendation by one of my favorite authors, Craig Johnson; it was very different from the Longmire series, even though both are about sheriffs in the American west. The story is told with a dual timeline: the 1950's, when a Russian spy masquerading as an American gets a job guarding a top-secret site, and the present day, when Sheriff Beck is investigating the murder and brutal torture of a retired FBI agent, and finds himself paired with an attractive female FBI agent. Murders, secrets, international intrigue, and deception all come to light as the story unfolds. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

While I agree with some comments that Bruce Borgos’ debut novel, The Bitter Past, is reminiscent of Craig Johnson’s Longmire books, it also brings back memories of Betty Webb’s 2012 Lena Jones mystery, Desert Wind. With two timelines, a mystery and espionage combined in one book, The Bitter Past is a fascinating, unusual debut.

Sheriff Porter Beck is a former Foreign Area Officer in the Army. Now, he’s sheriff of Lincoln County, Nevada, a county the size of Maryland. Despite the vast territory to cover, Beck knows most of the residents. His father was once the sheriff in the county before he developed dementia. Beck recognizes the dead man, a retired FBI agent. Ralph Atterbury was seventy-four. Beck never saw anyone who suffered that level of torture. It was worse than the Taliban. With Beck’s Army background, though, he has suspicions. When Sana Locke, an FBI agent from Washington shows up and wants to see Beck’s crime scene, he’s even more suspicious.

In the 1950s, and for decades afterwards, Nevada was the site for nuclear testing. In the ’50s, a KGB agent, found a way to infiltrate the site, under the name Freddie Meyer. Meyer’s assignment wasn’t just to infiltrate the site. He was part of a larger plan.

Now, over sixty years later, someone is in Nevada, looking for that former KGB agent. Atterbury might have had files that would help identify a man who would now be in his eighties. So, Atterbury was tortured for the information. It’s up to Sheriff Beck and his small team to protect that man, although they have no clue as to his current identity.

The Bitter Past is a gripping story that combines elements of mystery, espionage, and history. Beck wonders if he himself suffers from effects of the radiation from those nuclear tests. His mother, and so many other people who lived there in the 1950s, died of cancer. Animals suffered cruel deaths after the tests. But, during the 1950s, Americans believed the need to beat the Soviets in the nuclear arms race and the Cold War. While Borgos tells a riveting story, he doesn’t neglect the effects of the 1950s tests.

The Bitter Past is an unusual novel. Kudos to the author for a compelling debut.

Bruce Borgos has written a great suspense and mystery novel entitled “ The Bitter Past.” Like many of my favorite books there are two storylines running parallel, and perhaps intertwining, and leaving many of the mysteries unresolved till late in the book. The stories never felt forced and the pacing was…just right. The Goodreads summary begins with “ In the tradition of Craig Johnson and C.J. Box” sets the table beautifully since I have read most everything by both of these authors. So a big + before I read the first page.
Porter Beck is a Nevada small town sheriff who gets involved with murky good and bad guys having something to do with the American nuclear program from way back in the 1950’s. And that’s all I shall give y’all: I can only hope this is the 1st book in a series ( Mr. Borgos !) A big “ thanks” to NetGalley for the opportunity to read “The Bitter Past.”

The Bitter Past by Bruce Borgos. I did not want to put this book down!! A great story line with great characters. I love the snarky confident complex Porter Beck! Looking forward to reading more books with him! This story is a dual timeline. Present day Nevada near Area 51 with Russian spies and Cold War history in the 1956 timeline. A very believable story with the author keeping the story moving. I definitely recommend this book! Thank you NetGalley for letting me review this book.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for granting me a copy of this book in return for my honest opinions.

This book is not a typical gonre of mine, but am so very glad I took a chance on this one!

The book is set in the Nevada desert in the 1950's during the cold war. Nuclear testing is taking place.

There is a lot of tension, mystery and intrigue as a Russian spy emerges and the FBI becomes involved.

The book moves along at a fast pace and switches between the past and present. I was reading as fast as I could to find out what would happen next.

An excellent book. Ready for the next book now!

Highly recommend.

This book was awesome. It was a great mystery with a couple of great twists. I highly recommend it and want to read more of this author. Bruce Borgos is an excellent storyteller.

After seeing this book compared to C.J. Box , I had to read it. Great start to what hopefully becomes a series! The author was able to weave the past and the present together so well and kept me on the edge of my seat.

The Bitter Past is fast-paced, well-written, and has a really intriguing plot unlike any I've read in a while. I'm interested in seeing where this series will go. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for the ARC.

Strong series opener set in rural Nevada with a past-present mystery tied to the lingering effects of atomic bomb testing. The hero is the local sheriff who has a background in Army intelligence, which comes in handy when a Russian spy is at large in the county. The sheriff teams up with a female government agent, and romantic tension ensues.

The first-person narrative is engaging, with a balance of humor and self-reflection. Alternating chapters are set in the 1950s, giving Cold War intrigue that resonates in the present.

The isolation of the high desert was a factor - at one point they had 12 hours to accomplish something, and it seemed like half of it was spent driving somewhere! The opening scene is very gruesome, but it tones down after that, with some action and gunfights and a denouement in a scenic spot.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy.

Meet Sheriff Porter Beck, usually just Beck, of Lincoln County in eastern Nevada, adjacent to the Nevada Atomic Testing Site and Area 51, and, hopefully, the star of a continuing series. I really loved this character so much! He’s likable, smart, witty and gifted with total recall, but saddled with night blindness. An ex-military man, he came back to assist his lawman father who’s suffering from dementia, eventually being elected sheriff himself. Beck is investigating the grisly torture/death of a retired FBI agent and becomes paired with another FBI agent from DC, Sana Locke, who suspects the elderly murder victim was still looking for a Russian spy from 60 years ago.

The action jumps back and forth between the 1950s, as we get to know the Russian spy hidden at the Nevada testing site, and the present, as Beck and Locke try to determine how that obviously very old spy (if alive) figures into the current crime. The narrative comes down to spy vs spy, except the spies are 80 to 90 year old dudes.

Burgos definitely knows the area and landscape, adding weirdly named FLDS characters (those would be the desert polygamists). I moved to Utah from Chicago years ago and originally had no idea what “Downwinders” were and I was initially mystified by men named LaVelle and Enoch. The author expertly explains the unique social heritage and environmental history of the area as the mystery unfolds. It’s atmospheric and unique and even if you’re unfamiliar with the area, you’ll enjoy being plunged into a part of the New West that’s more than cactus and tumbleweeds.

The plot was twisty, the mystery was fairly complex and the finale was action packed! 5 stars! Sheriff Beck deserves a another book or two!

Thank you to St.Martin’s Press/Minotaur and NetGalley for making the suggestion that I’d like this! I did!

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): YES Beck’s sister, Brin, has emerald green eyes.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO Tall cottonwoods are growing where they should be.

The Bitter Past by Bruce Borges is a complex, fascinating, mysterious novel involving nuclear warfare development and testing done in the US in the 50's and 60's and possible spying by the Russians. It has many twists and turns from past to present keeping the reader fully engaged in trying to solve the earlier spying relating it to present day events. This book is well worth a read.

42 billion ⭐s

To say I loved The Bitter Past would be quite the understatement. Everyone else is chasing Bruce Borgos for my favorite book of the year. When I was thoroughly horrified at the beginning of the book then all of a sudden I'm crying from laughing is when I knew I had found my soulmate. Maybe two of my favorite jokes are held within The Bitter Past. Violent, unique and fresh, The Bitter Past is filled with unforgettable characters in a unique setting and has my highest recommendation (if that was actually a thing).

Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to review an advanced copy of The Bitter Past.

(3). This was a lot more fun than I expected. Nowhere Nevada, all that old history about the nuclear testing site, a back and forth story that almost makes sense with some really good characters to keep us involved. Porter Beck is a super solid protagonist, and that cures all kinds of ills. We have some good detecting, some nice peeling back of layers, and some really nice twists at the end with lots of action that makes it finish with a flourish. Good stuff.

This novel about the search for an old Russian spy from the Cold War now living under an alias was a great story. The action, the extremely likable characters and the great humor were enjoyable to read. The only issue I have is that it seems like the author has not researched Brinley’s condition. Other than that, four stars.

Kind of a slow read but it was interesting. Main characters were well written. I did like I never figured out the spy until revealed in the story.

The Bitter Past is fast paced, interesting and I have very mixed feelings about it.

The biggest takeaway for me is that as the start to a series, The Bitter Past has a lot of potential. However, if future books are just like this one, I wouldn't want to read them.

Let's talk about the plot. I love the way the author weaves in scenes from the past. It enriches and strengthens the whole story. The story itself moves along quickly, has lots of twists, some surprises, and a fairly satisfying end. I enjoyed the setting and learning some new things about what happened around Area 51 in the past and how it continues to impact the present, and I am curious to see what other stories can spawn from the area.

My main issues are the characters. Overall, the characters are a little flat and very often stereotypes. There are some exceptions, but not enough in my opinion. And don't get me started on the female characters. The lack of depth to any of them was frustrating. However, my biggest issue was with Beck. Beck knows all, sees all, and does all. Seriously, all the important discoveries are made by him, and usually because he is just so much smarter than everyone else (or listens better or just notices more). Even strong characters should rely on the supporting ones every now and then, but then again, those supporting characters are so one dimensional, they couldn't possibly be much help. I sincerely hope that the characters in the next book are written better.

I will probably read the next book in the series, just to see if the issues I have with this one get better. Again, I think the series has potential, but not without better characters and better character development.

I received an ARC from NetGalley, but I'm leaving my review voluntarily.

Review of Uncorrected Digital Galley

Lincoln County, Nebraska doesn’t see many murders. But Sheriff Porter Beck finds himself standing in Ralph Atterbury’s home with the tortured body of the retired FBI agent lying on the floor before him. It’s clear to Beck, a former Army intelligence officer, that Atterbury’s attacker was searching for something . . . and may not have found it.

It isn’t long before FBI Special Agent Sana Locke shows up to assist in the investigation into Atterbury’s brutal murder. But there are more questions than answers and, as the crime scene suggests, the answers might have something to do with a Russian spy that infiltrated the nuclear testing site back in the 1950s.

What was the murderer searching for in Atterbury’s home? And what could a decades-old spy mission have to do with the old FBI agent?

=========

Told in a dual timeline, the unfolding story of the investigation into the murder ultimately ties into the decades-earlier story of the atomic testing site. The strong sense of place and its believable characters combine with the compelling plot to grab readers from the outset, pulling them into the telling of the tale.

With well-developed characters and a unique plot, the story takes off at a rapid pace, and continues, keeping the pages turning as revelations and backstories unite to tell an intriguing tale of past and present.

The intriguing tale offers readers some surprising reveals as this unputdownable story races toward a denouement that readers may not see coming.

Highly recommended.

I received a free copy of this eBook from St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books and NetGalley
#TheBitterPast #NetGalley

Well, I just found a new Author that will be added to my best Author list. I was engrossed from the beginning. It flowed and kept me interested all the way through. I liked the humor and intelligence of sheriff Porter Beck, he was an interesting character. In fact all the characters were well written. The plot was very engaging and kept you on your toes. I highly recommend you read this book. I look forward to reading his other books.

Ebook received for free through NetGalley.

A great book that pulled me in from the beginning and was hard to put down. That’s for letting me read it.

This novel takes place in Nevada during two separate time periods. In the first, the present, we meet Beck, the Lincoln County Sheriff who followed his father into office after a career in the Army. One of his many remarkable abilities is total recall. Lincoln County is north of Las Vegas in the Nevada mountains. The other part takes place following the end of World War II and the Cold War. It involves the secret testing of nuclear weaponry, a Russian spy who was there under cover and an event that could have destroyed Las Vegas. Parts of each chapter deal with each time frame. Normally when I read split times I often lose interest because it becomes convoluted. But not this time. I found myself caring what happened to these characters and what is going on in their lives. I also occasionally laughed out loud at some of the interactions between Beck and his crew. The ending could not have been better. Thanks to Net Galley and Minotaur Books for an ARC for an honest review.