Ace Atkins's Quinn Colson novels have been exceptional from the start, but Atkins is finding his groove with the third offering, The Broken Places. He has found that quintessential balance in his portrayal of Sheriff Colson, allowing readers to easily forgive his transgressions because they lead to justice when the law cannot.
Colson has his hands full when three escaped convicts show up in Tibbehah County, Mississippi, to collect stolen money and exact revenge on the man who betrayed them. His predicament becomes personal when he learns the cons are pursuing Jamey Dixon, recently--and questionably--pardoned from his murder conviction. (Dixon also happens to be dating Colson's sister.) As federal agents and a tornado bear down on Tibbehah County, the sheriff races to protect his family and his jurisdiction from impending disaster.
The Broken Places gets its title from Hemingway: "The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places." Atkins merges this theme flawlessly with his uses of faith and nature. He simultaneously respects and questions both through the eyes of his hardened and oft-broken hero, Colson, and through Jason, Colson's uncorrupted five-year-old nephew. Whether readers are new to the series or fans from the start, The Broken Places will touch them the way all great novels do, profoundly. --Jen Forbus of Jen's Book Thoughts