Review: Bad Axe County by John Galligan

Bad Axe County

by John Galligan

Publisher: Atria Books

Pages: 336

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Fifteen years ago, Heidi White’s parents were shot to death on their Bad Axe County farm. The police declared it a murder-suicide and closed the case. But that night, Heidi found the one clue she knew could lead to the truth—if only the investigators would listen.

Now Heidi White is Heidi Kick, wife of local baseball legend Harley Kick and mother of three small children. She’s also the interim sheriff in Bad Axe. Half the county wants Heidi elected but the other half will do anything to keep her out of law enforcement. And as a deadly ice storm makes it way to Bad Axe, tensions rise and long-buried secrets climb to the surface.

As freezing rain washes out roads and rivers flood their banks, Heidi finds herself on the trail of a missing teenaged girl. Clues lead her down twisted paths to backwoods stag parties, derelict dairy farms, and the local salvage yard—where the body of a different teenage girl has been carefully hidden for a decade.

As the storm rages on, Heidi realizes that someone is planting clues for her to find, leading her to some unpleasant truths that point to the local baseball team and a legendary game her husband pitched years ago. With a murder to solve, a missing girl to save, and a monster to bring to justice, Heidi is on the cusp of shaking her community to its core—and finding out what really happened the night her parents died. 


Kritters Thoughts:  Heidi White left Bad Axe County with a bad taste in her mouth for the town.  When the sheriff dies she decides to return and be interim sherif and eventually run for the full time position.  This will greatly impact her family and will push her deep into the drama of this town.  

With a lot of characters and storylines, this book felt like it didn't have a focus.  If anything I was frustrated that the main focus of the synopsis Heidi's search for the killer of her parents seemed absent during most of the story and only showed up at the very end.  The rest of the story had this large cast of characters in this town dealing with all sorts of crazy shit.  It was too much.  

I always know I don't love a book when it takes me a long time to read it and this one felt like I was reading for a full week which is a long time for me.  If you are a reader who likes a large cast of characters going in all sorts of directions, then this could be the book for you.


Rating: enjoyable, but didn't leave me wanting more

Ebook 2019 Challenge: 30 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Atria Books.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.