The duo responsible for the Knoxville portion of the caper stop at a diner in (I think, this is not really clear in the book) a small town in North Carolina. The two men are a bit uneasy, somewhat concerned that someone will notice them and associate them with the bank job. As it is a Friday evening, the diner is crowded. Included in the group are a couple of sheriff’s deputies. The lawmen realize that the strangers, obviously Yankees, are behaving oddly, and from the fact that they are both wearing coats on a warmish evening, are probably armed as well.

Determined to preserve peace in their little hamlet, one of the deputies starts to draw his weapon, and is shot by one of the strangers. In the ensuing battle, the two deputies are killed as well as four bystanders. One of the civilians is Benella Sweet’s brother-in-law, Damian, her sister Katelyn’s husband and father to four-year-old Mary Leigh. Benella, a good marksman herself, shoulders the owner’s rifle and manages to kill one of the strangers, but the other man escapes.

Benella calls her good friend/ lover Conner Gibbs, an extremely unorthodox PI, to help track down the stranger that killed Damien. Soon the FBI is in on the case (as well as the local law enforcement team) because they have decided that the strangers were probably part of the contingent responsible for the bank heists. Benella, her sister, and her niece are considered as both a help and a hazard to the situation. They can identify one of the men involved, but the robbers also know this fact, and will most likely be trying to arrange their demise. Conner Gibbs is on a mission to apprehend the criminals, and prevent them from harming his lover and her relatives.

There is no shortage of action in Leo Atkins’ latest addition to his Conner Gibbs series. In fact, there is so much going on with suspects chasing the good guys, and the reverse that the novel almost resembles a Marx Brothers comedy with a less amusing outcome.

People are shot at, critically wounded, or killed. Descriptions of the encounters are often graphic. For example, a man is shot in the head such that one of his eyeballs becomes dislodged. A detailed account of the travels of the eyeball follows. This book is definitely not one for those who prefer the seamier action to take place off stage.

Author Atkins has a very distinctive writing style. He fleshes out his descriptions by means of parentheses. “They celebrated with champagne (domestic), and sizzlingtenderloin (eight ounce) and chocolate cheesecake (spare no expense)...” As he uses this method repeatedly, it loses its novelty value, and what was at first a lightening of the tension he had created in more somber scenes, became not very funny. Mr. Atkins also delights in ending a chapter or scene enigmatically. “ A plan was conceived: cunning, daring, deceptive. It might even work. But it didn’t.” Ostensibly, this device ought to keep the reader turning pages, but I found myself sometimes not catching the relationship with what followed, or noticing I was coming to the end of the chapter and predictably this type of ending obtained.

The final action scenes in the book have all of the main characters , including four-year-old Mary Leigh running around in the woods, trying to shoot someone, avoid getting shot at, or some permutation of the two combined. It was quite difficult to keep straight what was going on and where everyone was in relation to the others. Sometimes just remembering whose side each character was on was a challenge. Instead of being caught up in the action, I became increasingly confused and had to reread portions of the book.

The final point of disagreement I have with the author is the worldliness of four-year-old Mary Leigh. Despite the fact she has recently lost her father in rather traumatic fashion, she seems able to function with the savvy of a child at least three times her age. I just cannot imagine even an exceptionally bright and self-confident four-year-old wandering around in the woods by herself with the self assurance Mary Leigh seems to possess.

--Andy Plonka