Cover image of "The Redeemers," a novel filled with Southern-fried violence

Quinn Colson is a classic action hero. He was a sergeant in the Army Rangers, serving for 13 deployments over ten years in Iraq and Afghanistan. Several years previously he returned home to Tibbehah County in northern Mississippi to pick up where he left off with his high-school girlfriend, now the wife of a local physician. First elected as Sheriff, then defeated for reelection, Colson is serving his last days in the job as the story opens in The Redeemers, the fifth in a series of Quinn Colson thrillers. Naturally, all hell breaks loose in the final hours of his service to the county. Get ready for Southern-fried violence.

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

A cast of unattractive characters and the certainty of violence

Colson’s deputy, a tough young woman named Lille Virgil; Colson’s mother and his girlfriend; and an undercover FBI agent are just about the only likable characters in The Redeemers. Practically everyone else is either a petty criminal, a drug addict, or a corrupt local businessman. When two merchants in town decide to wreak revenge on a man who has cheated them both, they concoct a scheme to plunder the million dollars they believe is contained in a safe in the man’s home. To carry out the plan, they recruit a thoroughly unsavory character from a notorious crime family across the border in Alabama — a detestable lump of a man named PeeWee Sparks with a reputation as a safecracker. Sparks brings along his creepy teenage nephew, introducing him as his apprentice.

In this combustible mix of characters, violence is sure to break out — and it does.

The Redeemers (Quinn Colson #5) by Ace Atkins ★★★★☆

Where did this come from?

Somehow, amidst all the action, the author snuck in eight separate mentions of “Carhartt,” a manufacturer of work and outdoor clothing that apparently is commonly worn in the Deep South. I don’t know about you, but when a brand name crops up that often, it sticks out. I’m wondering whether he owns stock in the company . . .

About the author

Ace Atkins is a young crime writer and former journalist who lives outside Oxford, Mississippi. He published his first novel in 1998 at the age of 28 and has written 17 more of them since then. Five of those novels feature Quinn Colson, the once and future Sheriff of Tibbehah County, Mississippi. Also included are the four that have been published so far in the continuation of the late Robert B. Parker’s celebrated “Spenser” series.

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