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A special thank you to Penguin and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ace Atkins returns following The Redeemers (2015) to the Deep South with popular dark and gritty Quinn Colson #6 series THE INNOCENTS -highly controversial with an array of violent crimes exposed, in the underbelly of Jericho, Mississippi in Tibbehah County.

Does anyone ever escape Mississippi?

Working with Lillie Virgil, the first woman sheriff in the state, Quinn Colson and others sort through a web of intrigue and dark secrets, trying to bring justice to the town of Jericho. No easy task where there is more bad than good.

After a stint in Afghanistan where he trained local police, complex war-hero Quinn Colson returns to his hometown to help his former colleague and becomes a deputy.

Quinn Colson is still trying to work things out with his high school sweetheart, who’s taken her child and left her husband. Quinn’s father, Jason, a former Hollywood stuntman absent for most of his son's childhood, is back with a moneymaking land scheme that involves Johnnie Stagg, we met in the last book, now in prison.

We also catch up with Fannie, a strip club owner, from meth addicts, drug dealers, dirty politics, a self-righteous preacher, Elvis lovers, motorcycle biker gangs, wine boxes, Wally World, truck stops, molestation, racism, football, drug pins, a young girl turned stripper set on fire, and a beloved high school football hero Coach Bud Miles with secrets… all from the Bible belt.

Plus, a strained relationship between risk taker father Jason and son, Quinn.

There are several different plots, one being Milly Jones, local teenage, age eighteen, former cheerleader who writes in her journals. Secrets the town does not know. She wants her brother, Brandon’s suicide story told, making her way to Tupelo to meet an author, with high hopes.

From her dad’s meth time in jail, her mom and dad’s divorce, and her dad’s fat girlfriend, plus all her other issues. This town has secrets. She has to get away, and thinks if she can get to Tupelo to this author, possibly her story can be told. However, the trip to Tupelo to see a Southern Christian Romance author, was useless, and all the author wanted was $30 for the book, and then there was gas money.

Bummed by the disappointment, she makes her way back to the strip club (she has turned to in desperation for money) for her first night on the job at the Vienna Place Strip Club (former Booby Trap).. It is time for the pole.

However, she is desperate, and does not want to part with the house cut of the money she earns, and needs to keep it all. She heads out, and would send back the money to Miss Fannie, when she gets back on her feet, talk to her dad about the threats, and get right with Ordeen on the pills to get crazy Reece off her case. She needed breathing room.

As she drives away she wanted to see Joshua and heads North in her old Kia. However, she has car trouble. Twenty minutes later someone comes. She finds her way down the highway on foot, while engulfed in flames. Murdered. Burning flesh. The girl is dead.

A murder that occurs in "The Innocents" has a number of similarities to that of Jessica Chambers. (2014)

Fannie is not happy when Milly robbed her blind. Someone wanted to shut up the girl. She knew too much.

Colson and his boss, Sheriff Lillie Virgil, follow leads that point to a pair of black teenagers, reheating racial tension in a state infamous for racial tension. But the teenage guys have learned the identity of the real killer — and plan to inflict an awful form of punishment.

In the meantime, we have events surrounding the local coach also another related story: Dwight Bowling, former Alabama high school coach in molestation case and plenty of suspects in Milly’s murder, among all the other crimes and crazies. Everyone speculates, suspects, blame, lies, and secrets.

Southern-Gothic noir-crime fiction gets "down and dirty" with corruption, murder, and more ruthless criminals than you can count. Based on real events, a fictional account of some horrific crimes in the Deep South which sends this installment to the "top of the charts."

From eccentric well-developed characters to pitch perfect Southern wit, gritty dialogue, Atkins knows his way around the South. and crosses over to Memphis. With his true southern (Grit-Lit) and his continuation of Robert B. Parker’s Spenser popular series, (Boston) he has proven once again a talented versatile author.

From the atmosphere of Southern good, bad, and ugly, fans will enjoy his latest installment and dying for the next. From rural Mississippi, to gritty urban Boston something for everyone, no matter your taste.

In addition to the digital version, also purchased the audiobook, narrated by Macleod Andrews delivering an engaging performance.

The Innocents,’ A Conversation with Ace Atkins by Mark Rubinstein Huffington Post.

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