Chris Offutt’s book The Killing Hills is set in rural Kentucky. Mick Hardin is a combat veteran on leave from the army where he now investigates crimes. He has returned to the town where he and his sister grew up in order to visit his wife. His wife is pregnant but he has been away too long for this to be his child. He’s confused and troubled and he is taking time to reassess his life and his future.
Then Mick gets a call from his sister who is the local sheriff and who needs help to investigate the death of a local woman. His advantage is that he knows the local people and the way that they live and that his presence prevents investigators to be called in from elsewhere.
The crime that Mick investigates is reasonably straightforward. The pleasure in this book for the reader is the characters he meets and the way that he has to interact with them in order to progress the case. The author describes the physical area well and the landscape is an important part of the story. The people are poor and inward looking and there is an increasing use of drugs in the area which brings its own problems.
Mick is a capable investigator who understands the people and issues well. He has his own problems and time is beginning to run out as he ignores an increasing number of calls from his commanding officer.
I enjoyed this book. I believe there is a sequel but I haven’t purchased it. The writing is well done and the author creates a good atmosphere so that you come to understand the locality and the people. There are a lot of books like this with troubled investigators but I thought that this was a good one.
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