Ok I have to get this out of the way first. Multiple animals are in peril in this book. Some don’t make it. I had a little bit of a hard time with some of it. I’ll lay out the basics, and you can decide if you can handle it. A dog dies, but we didn’t meet her first, and there are literally no details about it. This one normally would’ve been rough for me, but because there aren’t any details, and it’s only brought up a few times throughout the book, I got over it. A cat dies, and there is a whole chapter about it. I just DID NOT read that chapter. I skimmed over the parts I thought I needed for context, but I did not read the details. I don’t think there were many details, and the chapters are short, and the main character was really pissed off about the cat, so that all helped. Then two more dogs are put into harm’s way. They both turn out ok, but it’s a little touch and go. A cougar is captured and might have to be put down. If you’re tallying, that’s 2 cats and 3 dogs. That’s a large amount of animal peril for me to like a book. Like I said though, the lack of gruesome detail, and the disdain by the main character for whoever is putting the animals in danger helps.
So this book is actually the beginning of a series that I started at book 3. I can think of at least three series off the top of my head where I somehow started in the middle without knowing that it was a continuing character. I liked book 3 so much (Killer Summer), that I went to the library to get books 1 and 2. Walt Fleming is the main character, and he’s pretty awesome. He’s a sheriff in a small but wealthily populated town. He’s great at his job, and not an ass about it. I like him, and I liked this book. I read it in like 2.5 sittings, so that really illustrates how good the story and writing was. Book 2 is coming up soon!
