Heaven's Fury: A Novel
It’s easy to see that Wisconsin sheriff Paul Summers has some problems. He’s stuck in the small, gossip-driven town where he grew up. He lives with a jealous wife he’s not sure he still loves. And he yearns for his high-school sweetheart, unreachable Cindy Prescott Harrison, the daughter of one of the town’s elite. Given all that, it’s no surprise that his first-person narrative makes him sound pretty conflicted; he’s definitely not a strong, admirable protagonist. Rumors of a cult in the area, questions about the disappearance of his deputy’s wife, and Cindy’s murder make things even more difficult for Paul. Though Frey gamely tries to pull it all together, he falls a mite shy. For readers who cleave more to forested northern vistas and small-town dynamics than to straight action tales, however, this may fill the bill. Recommend C. J. Box’s Joe Pickett as a follow-up. --Stephanie Zvirin