The Lost Are the Last to Die By Larry D. Sweazy

 Guest reviewer Kevin Tipple is back with his take on this Larry Sweazy novel.  Check out his blog Kevin's Corner for more book reviews and book news, as well as links to topics of interest.

Sometimes a short story takes on a life of its own and becomes a full sized novel. Such is the case with The Lost Are The Last To Die: A Sonny Burton Novel. This read is a sequel to the very good, A Thousand Falling Crows.

It is October 1934 as this novel begins and Sunny Burton is no longer a Texas Ranger. Drought and the Depression have Texas in their two handed grip and men and the land are being crushed alike. Sonny Burton, thanks to the gunshot that ultimately took his right arm, will never be able to do a two handed grip again. His new prosthesis allows him to work the stick on his old model A Ford pickup truck and that makes driving a little easier than it was for a while there though he prefers to stay close to home.

That isn’t to be.

Collingsworth County Sheriff Layton Jones, known to all the locals as “Jonesy” brings word that Billy Bunson has escaped from Huntsville. When Burton was working for the Texas Rangers, he had several encounters with Bunson over the years. The first time was back when Billy was a small child. The last one got the adult Billy put away in Huntsville. Not only is he out, but he took the warden’s pregnant wife with him as a hostage when he left the legendary Texas prison.

Billy took her because the police grabbed his girlfriend. Donna Del Rey was helping in the escape and now is sitting in the county jail for her efforts. He wants to make a trade-- the warden’s wife for his girlfriend. To make sure he got his point across, he sent a piece of one finger. Everyone understands that if he does not get what he wants, he will keep taking pieces off of her until she is dead as is the baby. The Rangers want Sonny to find him. Billy knows that the Texas Rangers would get Sonny to help as nobody knows Billy better than Sonny. Sonny coming to Hunstville to lead the search would be expected and another piece of Billy’s plan.

Sonny does not have a choice and he knows it. He is going to have to go to Huntsville and find out all he can so that he can stop Billy if at all possible. A man who was passing his days waiting for the end is given a reason to do what he does best. Even if he does not want to admit it to himself that being back on the chase and needed makes him feel alive in ways he has not felt in a very long time.

What follows is a highly atmospheric mystery with a lot going on. Author Larry D. Sweazy uses a current storyline in 1934 as well as numerous flashbacks across various other storylines primarily to weave a complicated tale in terms of Billy and Sonny’s relationship. Those various storylines and flashbacks also serve to illustrate the complicated relationship Sonny had with everyone including his late wife, Martha, his son, Jesse, and the Texas Rangers, and others. More than once these storylines also touch on Billy and illustrate his childhood years and more and how, in some ways, his destiny was always pre-ordained as was the destiny of Sonny to this point. Multiple storylines are at work through the book as is the overarching idea of a sort of new beginning for Sonny who has suffered so much over the years. There is a lot going on in this very complicated read and far more than what is described here in this review.

The Lost Are The Last To Die: A Sonny Burton Novel is one of those rare reads in fiction that make you think long after the book is closed. I suspect author Larry. D. Sweazy and this book will be up for a slew of awards next year. No doubt he will collect more than one for this intense and very good read. 

Lesa Holstine very graciously sent me the ARC she had of this for my reading pleasure after she completed her review. You can, and should, read that review here.

Kevin R. Tipple © 2019

The Devil's Country by Harry Hunsicker

Today we are pleased to have Kevin Tipple as a guest reviewer.  Kevin is well known in mystery circles for his insightful reviews, and as a writer and editor. His popular blog, Kevin's Corner, features reviews and informative links.  He is the current president of the Short Mystery Fiction Society.   Here is his first review for the BPL Bookblog:

Reviewed by Kevin Tipple

Former Texas Ranger Arlo Baines was just passing through Piedra Springs, Texas, with nothing more on his mind than enjoying the peace and quiet and a good book. Haunted by the memories of his deceased wife and children, he just wants to be left alone as he drifts from place to place. With just five folks in the only bar in the tiny West Texas town, if he counted himself and the bartender, he thought the odds were in his favor. He also thought the threat posed by any of the clientele was low to nonexistent.

That was until Suzy took more than a passing interest in him. She is clearly trouble in more ways than one and is also in trouble herself. It is also obvious to the former lawman that the man she is with is a significant problem. A problem that is not just going to go away on its own as the interest that Suzy showed in him was a small piece of the far bigger issue. Predictably, it is not long before the situation has moved outside to a parking lot outside the bar. Then things really go sideways and pull the disgraced former Texas Ranger into a hideous mess involving the Russian mafia, a cult, multiple murders, and more.

The Devil’s Country is very reminiscent of a Reacher series book. Loner, with a military or, in this case, over a decade in law enforcement by the way of the Texas Rangers (the real deal and not the baseball team in Arlington), comes into town, and just wants to be left alone. Alone to nurse his drinks, his thoughts, and his haunted memories of the past. All is fine until there is a person in distress that needs help. Usually the person is a woman which triggers our loner hero’s need to be a knight in shining armor to protect the fair damsel. Upon intervening, the loner hero runs afoul of the local law (who may or may not be as crooked as a dog’s hind leg). Arrested the first time (loner hero will spend lots of time arrested) and then released for whatever reason, said loner seeks to have questions answered and garner support. As it happens, many of the local populace are either part of the unspoken nefarious deeds, criminal conspiracy, or on the outside  and powerless to stop it as they are heavily weighed down emotionally, or physically, or financially, or all of the above. Said loner begins to wage a one person war to fight back for justice and intends to destroy the evil doers so that the place can be turned back over to the few good folks living in the area. Loner hero will have some help along the way that almost always will include at least one female, who may or may not, become physically intimate with the loner as she understands him and seeks to heal him at least a little bit.

All that, like in a Reacher series novel, is certainly present in The Devil’s Country. All that being said, even when you know the framework and can predict with a high degree of accuracy how things are going to play out, author Harry Hunsicker throws a few curveballs while unleashing a fast moving and very entertaining story. Violent and complicated, the read moves forward at a rapid pace as Arlo Baines works to solve the many unspoken mysteries of Piedra Springs.

The second book in the series, Texas Sicario, was released January 2019.

The Devil’s Country

Harry Hunsicker

http://www.harryhunsicker.com

Center Point Large Print

http://www.centerpointlargeprint.com

April 1, 2018

ISBN# 978-1-68324-744-9

383 Pages

$37.95

Material supplied by the good folks of the Dallas Library System.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2019