A Season to Kill

In the tense prologue of Mucci’s predictable debut thriller, a man flees masked pursuers through snow-whipped woods, where the “encircling trees loom menacingly, giving no comfort and admitting scant light.” Why this man is being chased with deadly intent doesn’t become clear until later. Fast forward 11 years. The borough of Macon, Pa., has just lost its beloved sheriff, Clay Holbrook, to a heart attack. Holbrook’s replacement, Christian “Chris” DeAngelo, intends to prove himself worthy of his mentor and follow the letter of the law. A missing-person report leads DeAngelo from small-time drug dealing to arson and murder. City hall pressures the green sheriff to solve the case quickly as he grapples with increasingly disturbing clues through a haze of hangovers. The endearing, bumbling DeAngelo consistently ignores the obvious in his quest for the truth. A conspiracy slowly emerges out of a number of forgotten Macon residents who have disappeared over the years. Genre fans will find nothing they haven’t seen before. [em](BookLife) [/em]