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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
This book had some really good moments and also was a great nostalgic trip. I liked all the characters, but especially liked Top's voice. I thought the mystery was well done, too, with just enough red herrings. I did find a number of typos, but it wasn't too distracting. Glad for a small press like the Poisoned Pen to publish works like these -- I'm SO bored with the top ten list big names that just crank out the same books with different titles. Rock Hole has some magic to it. I think it would make a great audio book, too.
When I first picked up Reavis Wortham’s The Rock Hole, I expected it to be a cozy-type mystery with a nostalgic Texas setting. After all, the book’s central character is a small-town Texas constable who is really starting to feel his age, and the book’s sometime-narrator is the man’s ten-year-old grandson, Top. Turns out, I could not have been more wrong; this is a crime novel so gritty that some of what it describes is gruesome enough that some readers will likely find it difficult to read the crime scene descriptions. The escalation of the novel’s intensity sneaks up on the reader as effectively as the villain of the piece sneaks up on his victims, and that makes it even the more shocking.
“As he stared glumly at his coffee, sadness and the futility of a lawman in a changing society swamped over the man who only wanted to do the right thing.” - Description of Constable Ned Parker, The Rock Hole, page 213
It all happens in 1964 in a small Texas community just south of the Red River. Crossing the river, puts you in Oklahoma, but part-time constable Ned Parker doesn’t worry too much about such technicalities. He knows pretty much everybody both sides of the river and understands that anything that happens in Center Springs, Texas, is not going to stay in Texas - and vice versa. Center Springs may as well be one town with a river running through the middle of it.
Ned really considers himself to be first a farmer, and he’s not wrong about that. His official jurisdiction, when it comes to the law, is a small one and nothing much ever really happens there. He’s mostly called upon to handle town drunks and the like, but now something strange is happening, and Ned is worried. Someone is torturing and killing animals, and there are signs that this is just the start of a crime spree that could escalate into something much, much worse than animal abuse. The tortured animals being discovered in the fields and countryside are getting larger and larger, and the person responsible for the atrocities has taken to leaving pictures of children alongside the dead animals.
Then, it gets very personal for Ned Parker and his family because someone out there seems to be after his two grandchildren, and he wonders if he will be able to protect them from the killer who wants so badly to snatch them from under his nose. Suddenly, Ned finds himself looking at everyone as a potential killer, and he is so frustrated that he feels like giving up. But that’s not who Ned Parker is - not even close.
Bottom Line: The Rock Hole is the first book in Reavis Wortham’s Red River Mystery series, and this 2011 novel has been followed by seven other Red River Mysteries, including 2021’s Laying Bones. The 1960s small-town atmosphere created by Wortham adds to the fun, but despite the references to Vietnam veterans, etc, the setting strikes me as being more akin to what one would expect in a similar location in the 1940s or 50s than in the mid-1960s. The Rock Hole is very good, and that’s the real “bottom line” here. Perhaps Reavis Wortham was shooting for “country noir” with this one; if so, he nailed it.
“As he stared glumly at his coffee, sadness and the futility of a lawman in a changing society swamped over the man who only wanted to do the right thing.” - Description of Constable Ned Parker, The Rock Hole, page 213
It all happens in 1964 in a small Texas community just south of the Red River. Crossing the river, puts you in Oklahoma, but part-time constable Ned Parker doesn’t worry too much about such technicalities. He knows pretty much everybody both sides of the river and understands that anything that happens in Center Springs, Texas, is not going to stay in Texas - and vice versa. Center Springs may as well be one town with a river running through the middle of it.
Ned really considers himself to be first a farmer, and he’s not wrong about that. His official jurisdiction, when it comes to the law, is a small one and nothing much ever really happens there. He’s mostly called upon to handle town drunks and the like, but now something strange is happening, and Ned is worried. Someone is torturing and killing animals, and there are signs that this is just the start of a crime spree that could escalate into something much, much worse than animal abuse. The tortured animals being discovered in the fields and countryside are getting larger and larger, and the person responsible for the atrocities has taken to leaving pictures of children alongside the dead animals.
Then, it gets very personal for Ned Parker and his family because someone out there seems to be after his two grandchildren, and he wonders if he will be able to protect them from the killer who wants so badly to snatch them from under his nose. Suddenly, Ned finds himself looking at everyone as a potential killer, and he is so frustrated that he feels like giving up. But that’s not who Ned Parker is - not even close.
Bottom Line: The Rock Hole is the first book in Reavis Wortham’s Red River Mystery series, and this 2011 novel has been followed by seven other Red River Mysteries, including 2021’s Laying Bones. The 1960s small-town atmosphere created by Wortham adds to the fun, but despite the references to Vietnam veterans, etc, the setting strikes me as being more akin to what one would expect in a similar location in the 1940s or 50s than in the mid-1960s. The Rock Hole is very good, and that’s the real “bottom line” here. Perhaps Reavis Wortham was shooting for “country noir” with this one; if so, he nailed it.
This was an engaging mystery. It's a little violet for my liking. There was a lot of negative racial color.
Great mystery set in 1960's East Texas. Someone has started torturing and skinning animals in a small rural town. It's up to constable Ned Parker to stop him before this killer graduates to people. Told between alternating viewpoints of Ned and his grandson Top, this is a page-turner you won't be able to put down.
I have very mixed feelings about this book...
One the one hand, I loved the characters and the setting. It portrays the rural Texas of the 60's really well, and the writing style is fun and quirky.
On the other hand, the solving of the mystery was pretty lame. We went from no clues to knowing who the murder was in the turn of a page.
So, if you are looking for a thrilling murder mystery, this is not for you. But if you are looking for a great setting and great characters with a hint of murder mystery, certainly give it a try!
One the one hand, I loved the characters and the setting. It portrays the rural Texas of the 60's really well, and the writing style is fun and quirky.
On the other hand, the solving of the mystery was pretty lame. We went from no clues to knowing who the murder was in the turn of a page.
So, if you are looking for a thrilling murder mystery, this is not for you. But if you are looking for a great setting and great characters with a hint of murder mystery, certainly give it a try!
This is the first book I read by this author and won't surely be the last as I loved.
It kept me on the edge till the end even if it made laugh at times.
I loved the contrast between the idyllic life of the small town and evil in action. The multiple POVs helped to see different sides of the story and loved Top.
A tightly knitted plot, excellent character development and storytelling, a solid mystery.
I can't wait to read another book in this series, this one i strongly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
It kept me on the edge till the end even if it made laugh at times.
I loved the contrast between the idyllic life of the small town and evil in action. The multiple POVs helped to see different sides of the story and loved Top.
A tightly knitted plot, excellent character development and storytelling, a solid mystery.
I can't wait to read another book in this series, this one i strongly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
The second book in this series was recommended to me, but I like to start at the beginning of things so I picked this one up. I will not be reading the second one..with a new POV every chapter, sometimes in 1st person (as Top) but mostly in 3rd, and some characters getting only a chapter or two to call their own, the writing style is disjointed. I also felt like Wortham had to convince me (and himself) too much that Ned's family was color-blind when it came to race relations. The actual mystery was only "eh".
I felt like I had to read this because the author is from my home town. :)
I really enjoyed it. The Rock Hole was a bit of a slow start, but the last quarter of the story was very exciting and I loved the ending. It had great characters and I was not able to guess "whodunnit" which is the way a mystery/thriller should be. I may just have to read the next book by Reavis Wortham!
I really enjoyed it. The Rock Hole was a bit of a slow start, but the last quarter of the story was very exciting and I loved the ending. It had great characters and I was not able to guess "whodunnit" which is the way a mystery/thriller should be. I may just have to read the next book by Reavis Wortham!