MYSTERY

They All Fall the Same

Crooked Lane. Jan. 2025. 304p. ISBN 9781639109104. $29.99. M
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Kentucky Cannabis kingpin Burl Spoon has alienated everyone in his family except his beloved granddaughter. He’s cheated on his wife. His gay son left home when Burl refused to accept him. He’s tried to keep his daughter DeeDee off drugs for years. When DeeDee dies of an overdose—heroin laced with fentanyl—Burl and his men go to war with Clovis Begley, the heroin king of the neighboring county. Their first move is to kidnap one of Begley’s sons. Begley doesn’t even wait until DeeDee’s funeral is over to strike back. Burl soon sends his family away because he knows it’ll be all-out war. Men are viciously cut down; houses and barns are set on fire; Burl goes underground when most of his men are killed and the federal government investigates. But a year later, during the COVID pandemic, he’s ready to take on the Begley family again, even if it means he’ll end up dead or in prison.
VERDICT The follow-up to Hillbilly Hustle is vicious, violent rural noir, a story of warring Kentucky drug kingpins who are reminiscent of the Hatfields and McCoys. The language and violence will turn some off, but it may remind readers of S.A. Cosby’s novels, without the humor.
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