What a ride! Gripping, tense, and one twist after the other. Backwoods 'mafia', secrets and betrayal, and connections everywhere. A definite rollercoaster of a page-turner to that last page.

I have not read the other books in this series but this could be read as a standalone novel as the events happen prior to the rest of the series.

This story follows Nelson "Nails" who has a history of doing the bidding for Georgia "Bull Mountain" local Gareth Burroughs. Nails is described as a large, bald man with a deformed left hand. When Nails gets in trouble at a local bar trying to save a woman, named Dallas, from a sexual predator, he is instructed to go to an address in Florida, call a phone number and follow their directions. The woman ends up tagging along and the pair needs to be resourceful in their endeavor to Florida. Clayton Burroughs, son of Gareth and old friend of Nails, tries to track them down and help get Nails and Dallas out of danger he knows his father can inflict.

I do not generally read this genre of book but I was hooked right away. The story is fast paced with short chapters and you grow to really love the characters.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this advanced ebook.

This is the fourth book in the Bull Mountain series, it takes place earlier than the events in the previous books, so it can easily be read as a stand alone. Nelson 'Nails' McKenna works as an enforcer for the local crime boss, Gareth Burroughs, he does unpleasant stuff and for an enforcer he has a soft side, after breaking someone's arm, he assists them to stand to make sure he's ok. A woman had seen this activity and decides that she wants Nails, though Nails is not your average guy, for one thing he's huge, 7ft tall and very large, he also has a deformed hand with webbed fingers. People make the mistake of thinking he's slow, and when they call him nasty names, he's quick to retaliate. Nails, while trying to help the woman who had saw him break the guy's arm, accidently kills a guy and he has to go on the run before the law can get him. His boss arranges for him to go from Georgia to Florida where he will meet up a guy who'll take care of him. The woman he was trying to help ends up with him, though not because he wanted her to. Along the way to Florida they get robbed and have to become resourceful in order to make it there by the deadline. Gareth's son, Clayton, was told by his father not to get involved, and of course he goes after Nails to help. The pace of the story was very quick, there were a number of surprises along the way, overall I really enjoyed this and would highly recommend. Thanks to #Netgalley and #Minotaur for the #ARC.

Nails, Nelson has a habit of killing men get under his skin. The Burroughs clan leader takes him under his wing to save for another day. When he has enough of Nails he sends him down to Florida to hide out under the wing of another crime syndicate. Nails and Burroughs son Clayton, who is seen by the family as an underachiever see through the motivation.

Panowich scores a huge victory here. I so much loved he centered this novel on the Gareth Burroughs mountain family. Great delicate character crime novel. Whew!