Shifty's Boys

January 1, 2022

On-leave army officer Mick Hardin is battling pain from an IED attack, the lure of prescription painkillers, and the trauma of an impending divorce when local heroin dealer Barney Kissick is found dead in the heart of town. When he investigates for Barney's distraught mother, he gets shot at himself. From a Granta Best of Young American Novelists honoree; following the LJ-starred The Killing Hills.

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 11, 2022
Offutt’s strong sequel to 2021’s The Killing Hills finds Army CID officer Mick Hardin back home in rural eastern Kentucky recuperating from an IED attack overseas when he’s hired by local matriarch Shifty Kissick to look into the murder of her drug dealer son, Barney, whose body was found behind an auto parts store. With a keen eye and easy rapport with the town’s seedier characters and members of law enforcement, Mick finds his way into the thick of a conspiracy larger than a heroin deal gone bad. Meanwhile, Mick’s sister, Sheriff Linda Hardin, is running for reelection and has to carefully navigate the freewheeling if nevertheless effective methods of Mick’s investigation in order to keep her nose clean. Mick’s pending divorce with his estranged wife back in Germany adds some depth to his character, but the emotional stakes often feel like an afterthought. Readers will appreciate the novel’s respectful portrayal of the contemporary South as they ride along with Mick on his fair-minded, almost spiritual quest to root out the truth. Fans of contemporary small-town mysteries will look forward to Offut’s next. Agent: Nicole Aragi, Aragi Agency.

May 1, 2022
Mick Hardin is still at home in the Kentucky hills, on leave from the army and nursing a shattered leg. As in The Killing Hills (2021), he finds himself obligated to deal with a mess driven by ""killing for vengeance,"" the plague of the hill people. This time it's Shifty Kissick, matriarch of a drug-dealing family that includes three sons, who comes calling, looking for the murderer of her son Barney. Mick reluctantly agrees to poke around--Shifty may be the local Ma Barker, but there's a heart beating somewhere beneath the shotgun she habitually holds at her chest. Then another of Shifty's brood, Mason, is found dead, raising the ante dramatically (""Graveyard dirt ain't even tamped down yet,"" Shifty says, ""and I got to dig another hole.""). When Shifty's remaining son, gay marine Raymond, who, like Mick, escaped the confining life of the Hills in search of personal freedom, arrives in Kentucky to help his mother, the two outsiders team up, tracking the killers to an abandoned mushroom farm now being used to stash toxic materials. The stage is set for a firefight, with Mick and Raymond keeping Mick's country-sheriff sister well out of the loop. This is country noir at its most powerful, combining cracking action with crystalline portraits of rough-hewn but savvy characters tragically forced to become ""retribution killers"" to stop yet another cycle of violence.

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Starred review from May 1, 2022
Another excellent Mick Hardin thriller set in rural eastern Kentucky. Mick Hardin, of the Army's Criminal Investigation Division, once again finds himself back home in Appalachia, freeloading on his sister, Linda, the no-nonsense county sheriff, while he recovers from a roadside bombing. When the county's heroin kingpin (or, it being a small place, the county's heroin princeling) is found dead in a vacant downtown lot in the county seat, the city police are disinclined to investigate, on the "good riddance" principle of rough justice. Linda, who's occupied with her reelection campaign--and the awful, endless round of glad handing, small favors, and pancake breakfasts it requires--is glad not to have the case on her plate. But when the dealer's mother, the misanthropic and well-armed Shifty Kissick (a former love of Mick and Linda's late father), asks Mick to investigate, he feels obligated to take a look...and the cycle of violence and revenge begins. As in The Killing Hills (2021), Offutt has fashioned a mystery plot that's fast-paced, efficiently plotted, atmospheric, and compelling, but what again distinguishes the book is the author's command of and affection for the setting and the people who live there. Come for the thriller, by all means; it delivers nicely. But stay for, and linger in, the marvelous incidentals and atmospherics: arguments about mall names; lore about snakes and birds and mushrooms; descriptions of a local shade-tree tinkerer's Slinky-like version of a perpetual motion machine. Terrific characters; taut suspense. Another winner from Offutt.

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April 1, 2022

While his sister Linda campaigns for sheriff, Army CID agent Mick Hardin mopes around her house as he recovers from an IED attack. He hasn't yet signed his divorce papers; he's taking too much Percocet, and he's bored. When Shifty Kissick sends for him, he's willing to meet with her. Her son, Barney, the local heroin dealer, was found murdered, and Shifty says the police don't care to investigate the death of a dealer. She asks Mick to do so, knowing he doesn't care that Barney dealt drugs. Mick's from the hills of eastern Kentucky, and he understands the people and the importance of family. When Shifty loses another son, she admits she might have sent him to his death. One more death makes it personal for Mick. If he can stay out of his sister's way, he might be able to help a grieving family before he has to return to duty. VERDICT Offutt follows the beautifully written The Killing Hills with another dark mystery featuring Mick Hardin. Fans of the author's poetic writing, with moments of sly humor, will welcome this second compelling story of family, community, and grief.--Lesa Holstine

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.