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    Bitter Recoil
    Bitter Recoil
    Bitter Recoil
    Audiobook6 hours

    Bitter Recoil

    Written by Steven F. Havill

    Narrated by Rusty Nelson

    4/5

    ()

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    About this audiobook

    Aging Posadas County Undersheriff Bill Gastner is taking a rare vacation in the mountains of Northern New Mexico. Still recovering from his quadruple bypass, Gastner heads to the hills to escape his physicians who keep preaching health reform. While there he intends to sort through his desire to reunite with Detective Estelle Reyes from San Estevan County. The plans for a peaceful vacation at Steamboat Rock Campground are interrupted by sirens. Reyes and Gastner do not meet for dinner, but for a murder case. A young pregnant woman seems to be the victim of a hit-and-run accident. Hers is the first in a series of deaths that pull Gastner off of vacation and onto the case...
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBooks in Motion
    Release dateJan 15, 2001
    ISBN9781581163735

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    Reviews for Bitter Recoil

    4/5

    54 ratings4 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Bill's visit to Estelle changes into a bus-man's holiday as he joins her in investigating the rape and murder of a young woman. Bodies pile up quickly when someone hunts down and kills the woman's assailants. Bill and Estelle are wounded and another deputy killed as they track down the killers. The presence of a small child and a prairie fire complicate things before Bill becomes a temporary spelunker to flush out the killer. Fast paced and a good read.
    • 5/5
      I ran across this series by Steven Havill a while back as a Books in Motion audiobook (now available through Audible) read by Rusty Nelson. They are straight police procedurals set in New Mexico. Nelson reads them with a marvelous gravely voice that is perfect for the character and setting. Havill has also written a series with the Undersheriff's deputy Estelle as the main character. They are all very entertaining and I plan on reading (listening) to the entire series. I highly recommend them.
    • 5/5
      I *like* this series. The stories a small, by that I mean they don't cover a lot of time or space. The people are people I would like to spend time with (well, at least the recurring ones, the bad guys I could do without). I'll be getting the next book in the series soon.
    • 5/5
      First Line: I stopped at the top of the saddleback and looked down through the pines.It's not often that Posadas County Undersheriff Bill Gastner takes a vacation, but he figures he's got one coming now. (Probably has something to do with his age and the quadruple bypass surgery he recently survived.) Gastner loads up his truck and heads for the mountains of northern New Mexico to visit his former detective, Estelle Reyes, who's upholding the law in San Estevan County.Parked in a campground, Gastner's sleep is interrupted by sirens, and he suddenly finds himself reunited with Reyes and her new husband over the body of a young pregnant woman. At first she's thought to be a hit-and-run victim, but the autopsy reveals the truth: this young woman had been thrown from a moving vehicle after a rape attempt. Gastner tries his best to stay on vacation and off the case, but when four more deaths occur, there's no time for a vacation for this recuperating lawman.Steven Havill has a deceptively smooth and easy style that had me hooked before I knew what was happening. His main character, Bill Gastner, is self-deprecating, funny, and absolutely relentless when it comes to hunting down the bad guys. Due to his age and that bypass surgery, he's also a very vulnerable character, which makes him a rare bird in the crime fiction world.The other characters hold their own against him-- especially Estelle-- but it's Bill's show in the beautiful mountains of New Mexico. And those mountains remind me: Havill really pushed two of my buttons with this book. Mine shafts and forest fires are going to get my attention every time, and Bitter Recoil was no exception. Havill writes a lean, spare mystery filled with wonderful characters, a strong sense of place, and plenty of action.This is a mystery series that my husband and I both enjoy, and it's not necessary to read the first book in the series to be able to follow what's going on in this second one. If you've caught up with Sheriff Walt Longmire and Joe Pickett of Wyoming, I suggest you head southwest to New Mexico and make Bill Gastner's acquaintance. He'll make sure you feel welcome!