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Hard Cash Valley

by Brian Panowich

Series: Bull Mountain (3)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations
14313193,521 (3.92)None
"Return to McFalls County and Bull Mountain in Hard Cash Valley, where Brian Panowich weaves another masterful tale of Southern Noir. Dane Kirby is a broken man and no stranger to tragedy. As a life-long resident and ex-arson investigator for McFalls County, Dane has lived his life in one of the most chaotic and crime-ridden regions of the south. When he gets called in to consult on a brutal murder in a Jacksonville, Florida, motel room, he and his FBI counterpart, Special Agent Roselita Velasquez, begin an investigation that leads them back to the criminal circles of his own backyard. Arnie Blackwell's murder in Jacksonville is only the beginning - and Dane and Roselita seem to be one step behind. For someone is hacking a bloody trail throughout the Southeast looking for Arnie's younger brother, a boy with Asperger's Syndrome who possesses an unusual skill with numbers that could make a lot of money and that has already gotten a lot of people killed-and has even more of the deadliest people alive willing to do anything it takes to exploit him. As Dane joins in the hunt to find the boy, it swiftly becomes a race against the clock that has Dane entangled in a web of secrets involving everyone from the Filipino Mafia to distrusting federal agents to some of hardest southern outlaws he's ever known"--… (more)
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English (12)  French (1)  All languages (13)
Showing 1-5 of 12 (next | show all)
Hard Cash Valley- Brian Panowich
Another excellent southern Noir from this author who has excellent storytelling down.
Cock fighting, crazy Filipino killers, a lot of crazy southerners. What is there not to like.
Excellent book, and it just came out in paperback.
All three books by this author are excellent! ( )
  zmagic69 | Mar 31, 2023 |
Fast, dark, gritty story. Heavy violence at times. ( )
  CharWright | Feb 26, 2023 |
After reading several books by this author, I expected this one to be good, and I wasn't disappointed. But it's pretty brutal, with a few killers that have no problem killing people that are not a direct threat to them, but are possible loose ends. Parts of it were so gory that it was kind of humorous. There was one guy who seemed like he could not be stopped, and reminded me of that Monty Python scene in The Holy Grail where King Arthur cuts off the guys arms and legs, but the guy still wants to keep fighting ("Nothing but a scratch!"). The guy literally had pieces of burned skin coming off when they tried to grab him, and he didn't let up.

But there was a lot of sadness throughout the book, even though it was somehow kept balanced by things like the interaction between Dane and Roselita, and didn't seem to go overboard. Perhaps the saddest part was when we find out how Dane's wife and daughter died, although Ned's story was pretty sad also.

Even though this is number 3 in the series, it can be read by itself, as it doesn't use any characters from previous books, at least not in any important way. I think Dane was mentioned in a previous book, but no in any detail. ( )
  MartyFried | Oct 9, 2022 |
A low-budget ‘Ozark.’ If the New York Times Book Review praised this novel as some reviewers have said, then I'm shocked. On the positive side, it did catch my attention in the opening chapters and I wanted to know the outcome. On the other hand, it's a steady slide in quality from beginning to end, as if the only thing that mattered to the writer was hooking the reader. Panowich trots out every trope possible and weaves the most ridiculous, implausible tale imaginable. I'll never read another book by this author. Decent first few chapters, though. ( )
  texasstorm | Jun 11, 2022 |
Brian Panowich has written another excellent Southern noir crime thriller (a/k/a grit lit) with events in and around Bull Mountain in northern Georgia. Arnie has scored big, and in on the run, when he is caught by some angry Filipinos, who want their money returned and an understanding of how the con was perpetrated. Things end badly for Arnie, and GBI's Dane Kirby is tapped by the FBI to assist for reasons unknown to him. His new partner Roselita (don't call her Rose or Rosey) is furious as she is separated from her FBI partner. Meanwhile, Kirby is called from the scene of a murder, where one of his close friends, with whom he has lost touch, is found with a foggy memory and no gunshot residue on his hands. Then, Arnie's younger brother is missing and the FBI assistant director orders them to find the kid as top priority. Everything leads back to Hard Cash Valley, and a recent world-renowned cockfighting event that occurred there. Dane Kirby is fighting his own battles too: visits from his dead wife, and a recent medical diagnosis that he cannot bear to share. Heaps of violence, treachery, friendship, love and redemption, but not for weaklings. 4.5 stars. ( )
  skipstern | Jul 11, 2021 |
Showing 1-5 of 12 (next | show all)
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"Return to McFalls County and Bull Mountain in Hard Cash Valley, where Brian Panowich weaves another masterful tale of Southern Noir. Dane Kirby is a broken man and no stranger to tragedy. As a life-long resident and ex-arson investigator for McFalls County, Dane has lived his life in one of the most chaotic and crime-ridden regions of the south. When he gets called in to consult on a brutal murder in a Jacksonville, Florida, motel room, he and his FBI counterpart, Special Agent Roselita Velasquez, begin an investigation that leads them back to the criminal circles of his own backyard. Arnie Blackwell's murder in Jacksonville is only the beginning - and Dane and Roselita seem to be one step behind. For someone is hacking a bloody trail throughout the Southeast looking for Arnie's younger brother, a boy with Asperger's Syndrome who possesses an unusual skill with numbers that could make a lot of money and that has already gotten a lot of people killed-and has even more of the deadliest people alive willing to do anything it takes to exploit him. As Dane joins in the hunt to find the boy, it swiftly becomes a race against the clock that has Dane entangled in a web of secrets involving everyone from the Filipino Mafia to distrusting federal agents to some of hardest southern outlaws he's ever known"--

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