Rough Country by T J Brearton

4 Stars from me

Apologies all as I am a little late in the day posting this one!

Having enjoyed previous T J Brearton books I was greatly looking forward to reading Rough Country and I am glad to say the story did not disappoint!

I loved how the story appeared to be heading in one direction, jogging along nicely on the way to tracking down the killer of our victim, Kacey – mostly likely some kind of lovers quarrel – and then suddenly out of no where the story gets derailed a previous victim comes to light.

This changes the whole slant on the investigation and the story ramps up from this point onwards and more and more is discovered.

I loved the edginess around the key suspects, they were all so darn slippery and I would have been happy with any of them being identified as the killer as virtually everyone we were introduced to seemed to be hiding something!

I thought Reed Raleigh was a great character to carry the story – I know not every likes a troubled cop with demons but personally do. I like them having flaws and juggling their own battle scars along with the case.

Overall, a good satisfying read.

My thanks to Emma from @damppebbles and T.J. Brearton for letting me be a part of this tour. #RoughCountry #TJBrearton @inkubatorbooks @damppebbles #damppebblesblogtours

Book Blurb: 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.