Helpful Score: 2
Another great book by Donald Harstad. Small town setting with high drama.
A good crime fiction story.
Deputy Sherif Carl Houseman
3rd. book in series
3rd. book in series
Loved this book. Have never read anything by Donald Harstad before but I will look for his books now. Love the sense of humor that was throughout the book.
I was not impressed at all with this book.
It moves so slow it is just irritating, I just kept thinking 'keep going, keep going' but by page 200? it was just repeating the crime over and over and going no where, the investigation was so slow (and I know it goes faster on tv since they only have an hour) it just didn't keep me interested as much as I tried. How much repeat can you put into a story? I just flipped to the back and it pretty much sums it up in the Epilogue and that was enough for me.
Doubt I try any more by Harstad.
It moves so slow it is just irritating, I just kept thinking 'keep going, keep going' but by page 200? it was just repeating the crime over and over and going no where, the investigation was so slow (and I know it goes faster on tv since they only have an hour) it just didn't keep me interested as much as I tried. How much repeat can you put into a story? I just flipped to the back and it pretty much sums it up in the Epilogue and that was enough for me.
Doubt I try any more by Harstad.
The pair of frozen corpses were found under a tarp in the machine shed of an empty farmhouse. Two males - brothers - both killed by bullets from a Russian automatic fired at close range. The cops have a suspect: a man Deputy Sheriff Carl Houseman busted five years earlier and the county's lead suspect in a series of recent robberies.
Houseman knows they have the wrong guy. He also knows they've got something bigger than a burglary gone bad...especially when the FBI starts showing up in Maitland. The brutal double homicide is just the tip of the iceberg in a case where a killer's trail keeps disappearing like footprints in a freshly fallen snow, and where one bad break can send a good cop into a deep freeze...
Houseman knows they have the wrong guy. He also knows they've got something bigger than a burglary gone bad...especially when the FBI starts showing up in Maitland. The brutal double homicide is just the tip of the iceberg in a case where a killer's trail keeps disappearing like footprints in a freshly fallen snow, and where one bad break can send a good cop into a deep freeze...
What initally looks like a small time midwinter break-in, leads to something much bigger - a million dollar siege of a floating casino on the frozen Mississippi River. But the temperature is rising and the heat is on Deputy Sheriff Carl Houseman...
Following hard on the heels of the bestselling Eleven Days and The Known Dead, Donald Harstad really hits his stride with The Big Thaw, an irresistible big thriller with a Fargo-like atmosphere.The dead of winter has hit the heartland. It's thirty below zero and all anyone has to look forward to in Nation County, Iowa is an evening's entertainment aboard a floating casino docked a short drive away on the Mississippi River. With his friend and partner Hester Gorse pulling security duty on the Beauregard, it's left to Deputy Sheriff Carl Houseman to keep Nation County criminals in check. In Carl's experience, though, crime takes a holiday when the mercury falls. But the men lying low at a nearby compound have much bigger plans. They're waiting for a break in the weather to pull off a masterful million-dollar siege of the state's biggest economic asset. And Hester, trapped on the Beauregard, is directly in the line of fire. While desperately trying to maintain his control of the investigation, Carl has to plan for disaster relief, lobby the FBI for a team of SWAT sharpshooters, hold the media at bay, and save Hester's life before the temperature rises for the big thaw ...
Following hard on the heels of the bestselling Eleven Days and The Known Dead, Donald Harstad really hits his stride with The Big Thaw, an irresistible big thriller with a Fargo-like atmosphere.The dead of winter has hit the heartland. It's thirty below zero and all anyone has to look forward to in Nation County, Iowa is an evening's entertainment aboard a floating casino docked a short drive away on the Mississippi River. With his friend and partner Hester Gorse pulling security duty on the Beauregard, it's left to Deputy Sheriff Carl Houseman to keep Nation County criminals in check. In Carl's experience, though, crime takes a holiday when the mercury falls. But the men lying low at a nearby compound have much bigger plans. They're waiting for a break in the weather to pull off a masterful million-dollar siege of the state's biggest economic asset. And Hester, trapped on the Beauregard, is directly in the line of fire. While desperately trying to maintain his control of the investigation, Carl has to plan for disaster relief, lobby the FBI for a team of SWAT sharpshooters, hold the media at bay, and save Hester's life before the temperature rises for the big thaw ...
Donald Harstad delivers a great read again. If you are familiar with his earlier books in the Carl Houseman series you will not be disappointed in this book. An antagonist from a previous book shows up to carry out a plan to rob five banks a t the same time setting in motion a suspenseful showdown with between Houseman and the FBI against a common threat. The story line moves at a steady satisfying pace from page 1 throughout the book. Author knows the ins and outs of rural law enforcement. On a big plus side for me is he gets the weaponry and other assets correct.
