Blog Tour: Rough Country by T.J. Brearton

Today is my turn on the blog tour for Rough Country by T.J. Brearton. Thank you to Inkubator Books and Damp Pebbles Blog Tours for a digital review copy. The book will be out in paperback and digital format on 15th November!

Here’s the synopsis and my review:

Publication Date: 15 November 2020
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Author: T.J. Brearton
Publisher: Inkubator Books

Synopsis:

A young girl murdered. A town with a dark secret.

A young girl, Kasey, is murdered in the woods of northern New York, a strange symbol carved into her stomach.

Investigator Reed Raleigh, Major Crimes, is tasked with finding the killer.

Reed has his own troubles. He’s in therapy, divorced, estranged from his son. But he desperately needs to solve this case – his own stepdaughter vanished when she was a teenager and Reed knows all about the agony of having no closure. No way is he letting Kasey’s mother go through that.

But as Reed begins to dig, the case grows ever more complex. Why is Kasey’s boyfriend acting so strangely? And why is her mother lying to the police?

As evidence of Kasey’s bizarre secret life starts to emerge, Reed realises this case isn’t just about a dead girl. There’s something much bigger at play in this small rural town, a decades old secret that needs to be protected. At any cost.

Review:

Rough Country grips your attention from the prologue and doesn’t let go! From its explosive opening right down to the satisfying ending, it’s the kind of thriller you can devour in one day. The plot is efficient, the mystery intriguing and there are many crumbs dropped throughout the story to keep you guessing. What starts out as a murder of a teenage girl soon evolves into something bigger, involving the community in the small town she lived in. The storyline of intergenerational beliefs is fascinating and relevant, especially if readers are up to date on real-life events involving cults and conspiracy theories.

I thought Reed Raleigh is a solid protagonist. While he carries the usual trope of a police officer with a traumatic past and broken relationships, he doesn’t go too far off the edge. He tries his best to get justice for the victim and has no problems asking for help. I also appreciated the scenes of him seeing a psychologist. I feel that is something crime fiction books rarely do, perhaps because it has the risk of making the protagonist look weak. On the contrary, there is nothing more appealing than a hero who is willing to work on himself and move on from his dark history.

While the book is fast-paced, I wish it slows down enough at the end so I could see the full effect of the fallout from Reed’s investigation. But I was still satisfied with how the book ends. It’s not a fairy tale with a happy ending but real life often is not. I certainly hope this is not the last we see of Reed Raleigh. If you’re looking for a complex, entertaining thriller, definitely give Rough Country a go!

Be sure to check out the rest of the blog tour!

Content warning: suicide, rape, parental abuse