Thriller packed with action

The Sinners:

A Quinn Colson Novel Ace Atkins Putnam

Mississippi’s rural Tibbehah County — the evocative setting for Ace Atkins’ superior series about Quinn Colson, a former Army Ranger turned sheriff — is the crossroads of all things good and evil. Here, ordinary people too often intersect with members of the crime syndicate and general low-life people who have infiltrated the area.

In the action-packed The Sinners, Quinn again is battling drug traffickers who are using Tibbehah as their headquarters. Dirt-track racers Tyler and Cody Pritchard are growing marijuana on their farm. But the brothers’ lucrative sideline is running into troubles that have nothing to do with the law. Their violent, racist Uncle Heath shows up one night after serving 23 years in prison, planning to take charge of the brothers’ land and business, with or without their permission.

Meanwhile, Fannie Hathcock, who runs the strip club Vienna’s Place, believes the Pritchards have violated their agreement by selling more marijuana than they raise. That hurts Fannie’s standing with the Dixie Mafia that has its tentacles in Vienna’s Place.

Investigating the drug trade and the murders that have resulted from the rivalry is taking priority in Quinn’s professional life, but the sheriff is also dealing with a major life change. He’s less than a week away from marrying nurse Maggie Powers.

Atkins constructs his series to be equally a look at the criminal invasion in Quinn’s part of Mississippi and a story about families — a technique that provides balance to The Sinners.

Tibbehah County and the town of Jericho are small areas with bigcity problems as Atkins maintains the sense of community in the region. The Sinners showcases the beauty of Mississippi, from its fields to the winding Natchez Trace.

Atkins, who also is continuing the late Robert B. Parker’s Spenser novels, delivers a solid thriller with The Sinners, while leaving story threads for the ninth instalment in this series.