Stag A novel

The Houseboat (2022) introduced Bahr's acerbic but sympathetic Amos Fielding, a small-town Iowa sheriff. Now voluntarily retired, Fielding seeks a reprieve from the stress of his previous job and a new, secluded environment in which to grapple with a devastating loss. His plans for a monastic life are thwarted by the reemergence of a serial killer whose ritualistic tableau recalls a murder committed eight years ago. The ex-DEA agent who found the initial victim pressures the former lawman into the case. Both are jaded and cynical, establishing the instant rapport of fellow witnesses to horror and with a shared compulsion for justice. They become useful assets to an ambitious FBI agent, whose curiosity and persistence alienate a dismissive police chief. Terse, staccato banter volleyed among the men adds a touch of wry humor that balances the increasingly grisly discoveries. The use of regional patois also complements the disorienting and gloomy atmosphere. Bahr's series is tailor-made for fans of dark, Northwest country noir thrillers containing a moderate amount of graphic imagery within a conventional plot.

A retired sheriff and a former agent from the Drug Enforcement Administration team up in a remote corner of Washington state in pursuit of a psychopathic killer. The year is 1989. Ex-cop Amos Fielding left his home in small-town Iowa following the death of his wife of nearly 50 years. He now lives "a life in suspension" on a ranch, where a horse and a mule are his only companions. One-time drug agent Dee Batey called it quits with the DEA after a horrific experience at the Mexican border, where he was shocked to discover that the swaddled babies on a bus were all dead and slit open for the smuggling of heroin. He is now a game warden. Against their will, Fielding and Batey are pulled back into the darkness when young women start turning up dead, ritualistically murdered (as we know from early on) by a twisted soul who films himself in the act. The local police chief is oddly indifferent to the killings, but the aging sleuths, who become fast friends, are able to get help from a quirky FBI agent out of Seattle. As disturbing as these crimes and this criminal are, we've seen them before. What sets the novel apart is the unshakable atmosphere of dread and remorse that Bahr sustains, whether the action is taking place in foreboding woods, unlit cellars, or abandoned warehouses. His follow-up to the horror-embracing The Houseboat (2022) grabs the reader with dark, poetic images, including recovering alcoholic Batey's wish that his gardening wife "could pull out the weeds in me" and falling ashes appearing "like sheds of dead skin." Once you're in the novel's grip, it's difficult to break free. A predator thriller with a difference, by a rising star in the field. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.