Unraveled by Reavis Z. Wortham

Published by Poisoned Pen Press on October 4, 2016

Unraveled is another decent entry in a decent series. None of the subsequent Red River mysteries have been as good as the first one, which is truly a chilling thriller, but they all feature good characters, entertaining plots, and a realistic setting in a racially tense 1960s northeast Texas.

Reavis Wortham follows the formula he’s established in the earlier Red River mysteries. Some chapters are narrated by Top, a boy who has inherited a supernatural gift. In Top’s case, the gift manifests itself as dreams that foretell the future, unless they don’t. Top has a knack for getting into trouble, although his tomboy cousin Pepper just as often leads him into trouble. Top is just starting to notice that Pepper is a girl, although Pepper has understood her gender for some time and is ready to get it on with a young Indian who has more-or-less been adopted by Top’s grandfather, who is raising Top.

The plot involves a fellow who nonsensically calls himself the Wraith, a chilling name that doesn’t really match his personality. Wortham hasn’t managed to create a frightening villain since the first novel. This one is a fairly ordinary murderer who has a grudge about the past and is getting vengeance in the present. The most interesting thing about the Wraith is that he takes a carnival job as a clown, which creates some comic relief with a recurring secondary character named Isaac Reader, who is spooked by clowns.

The Wraith wants to get even with Cody Parker, Top’s uncle, who is now the sheriff. Much of the story builds toward a confrontation, but along the way there’s a feud between two families, which is sparked by an apparent car accident that killed a white man from one of the families and a black woman from the other. The story, like others in the series, gets mileage from the racism that pervades the time and place, while pointing out that race has nothing to do with how sensible people feel about each other.

The ending is a bit of an anti-climax, but the story has enough entertaining moments along the way to make it a worthy entry in the series. At this point, I read these books for the characters and setting more than the story, although I always hope that Wortham will find the magic again and come up with a story that rivals the first one in the series.

RECOMMENDED

Dark Places by Reavis Z. Wortham

Published by Poisoned Pen Press on September 1, 2015

In an introduction to Dark Places, Reavis Wortham mentions that the first two novels (the best in the series) were darker than their successors, and that Dark Places is intended as a return to the darkness. I don’t think Dark Places achieves that goal -- it isn’t dark in the sense of chilling or spooky, as are the first two -- but it is still a good entry in the series.

For some time in these novels, Pepper has been expressing her dissatisfaction with small town life and yearning for the excitement of San Francisco, where (at least according to the radio) all the interesting people live. Pepper hits the road in this novel (much to Top’s displeasure), leading to the first of the novel’s plotlines. The plot branches off, sometimes following Pepper and other times following Ned and Pepper’s dad as they become involved in drama of their own after hooking up with a fellow named Crow, who joins them in their search for Pepper.

Another plot thread involves two young men who (accompanied by a third as an unwilling bystander) commit a murder. That crime occupies Sheriff Ned and his new deputy, Anna, who gives most of the local residents their first exposure to feminism (in the limited sense of a woman doing “a man’s job”).

In addition to larger issues like the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War, Reavis Wortham evokes a sense of time by reference to television shows and songs that were popular during the early 1960s. That creates a sense of nostalgia for those of us who are old enough to be nostalgic about that era. Given that his characters range in age from older guys like Ned to kids like Top and Pepper, Wortham’s novels have appeal for readers of every age.

The story moves quickly, the characters are believable, and the intersecting plots hold a fair amount of excitement. None of the Red River Mysteries have met the standard of the first one, but Dark Places provides an entertaining opportunity for series fans to spend time with familiar characters.

RECOMMENDED

Vengeance Is Mine by Reavis Z. Wortham

Published by Poisoned Pen Press on July 1, 2014

The first Red River mystery, a haunting and powerful tale, remains the best of this series. In Vengeance Is Mine, Reavis Wortham again tells a story that doesn't live up to the promise of the initial novel, but the characters and setting are strong and the lively plot is fast and fun.

A Vegas hit man, deciding to retire after his conscience prevents him from fulfilling a mission, steals the Mob boss' safe as severance pay. A beautiful woman he meets as he's leaving Vegas joins him. They end up in Lamar County, Texas -- a place Cody Parker once described to the hit man -- bringing more trouble to a small rural community that has seen more than its share of violence.

Coincidentally (and the coincidence is huge), the hit man not only Cody in Vegas, but also the sheriff who has become the nemesis of Ned Parker. As we know from past novels, Sheriff Griffin is crooked, and his errant ways cause him to fear the hit man who unexpectedly appears in his little patch of Texas.

Following the formula he crafted for this series, Wortham moves the plot forward with chapters written in the third person while occasionally adding a chapter from Top's youthful perspective. As always, Top and his foul-mouthed cousin Pepper manage to be in the center of trouble whenever it arises.

The men in the Red River novels "live in a world of hurt and fact." They say what they mean and they don't sugar coat it. The men make an effort to avoid displaying their emotions but Wortham conveys their emotions effectively. Over the course of the series, Wortham has fashioned primary and secondary characters who seem as real as your neighbors (at least if your neighbors live in northeast Texas).

Wortham has a keen ear for regional dialect. His characters continue to explore themes raised in earlier novels -- changing times, rising crime, the loss of neighborly ways. Pepper is almost the sole advocate for change -- she's tired of the farm and the smell of manure -- while Top is afraid of change, particularly the changes that are occurring in Pepper's body.

While Vengeance Is Mine fails to match the captivating suspense of The Rock Hole, it is a worthy addition to the series. I liked it about as much as Burrows, but I suspect that a new reader's appreciation of this novel will be enhanced by reading at least the first two before tackling this one.

RECOMMENDED

The Right Side of Wrong by Reavis Z. Wortham

Published by Poisoned Pen Press on July 2, 2013

Cody Parker is driving through one of the few snowstorms he's seen in his life when a shotgun blast, combined with an icy road, sends him skidding over a cliff. The shooting and the crash are bad enough, but when Cody is about to be eaten by a pack of wild dogs, he knows he's having a bad day. Cantankerous Constable Ned Parker is determined to learn who ambushed Cody. The motive for the attempted murder turns out to be implausibly weak.

As is typical of Reavis Wortham's Red River novels, the most enjoyable chapters are narrated by young Top, whose conversations with his foul-mouthed cousin Pepper always make me laugh. They're the first to meet their new neighbor, an eighty-plus cowboy named Tom Bell. He's mysterious about his past, so you know Top and Pepper are going to learn something about him that they aren't supposed to know.

The other series regular, Deputy John Washington, is helping the Parkers bust up a still when they discover two buried bodies. The body count eventually rises. Washington and the Parkers, with an assist from the elderly Bell, make it their mission to end the killing spree. The story drags a bit until the final third of the novel, when the action moves to Mexico with gun battles galore. Still, compared to the first two novels, our heroes barely break a sweat in this one.

The Red River mysteries always create a strong sense of time (1966) and place (Lamar County, Texas). Dialog rings true, as do Wortham's scenes of racial tension in an area where whites, blacks, Mexicans, and Native Americans coexisted without mixing. Times are changing in Lamar County -- burlap sacks of "marywana" are showing up -- and Ned is no more pleased about that than he is about the world's dwindling supply of old fashioned manners. While all of that gives the book a realistic atmosphere, Wortham's reliance on homey bromides and fishing stories to fill the middle pages is starting to feel overdone.

In the first Red River mystery, Wortham blended the traditional elements of a crime novel with the chilling elements of a horror story to create a small masterpiece. He followed that formula with less success in the second novel, but still produced a story that made tension palpable. In The Right Side of Wrong, Wortham opted for a more traditional thriller/mystery plot. I enjoyed the result, but this novel doesn't generate the suspense that Wortham created in the first two. Of the three Red Rivers mysteries that have appeared to date, The Right Side of Wrong is the least successful.

RECOMMENDED

Burrows by Reavis Z. Wortham

Published by Poisoned Pen Press on July 3, 2012 

The first Red River Mystery, The Rock Hole, is a novel I strongly recommend to thriller fans. In addition to its spectacularly creepy villain and almost unendurable suspense, the novel introduces richly textured, immensely likable characters. While it is mildly disappointing but not surprising that the second Red River Mystery doesn't warrant the same high praise, Burrows tells an exhilarating story, creates a strong sense of time (1964) and place (the Oklahoma-Texas border), and further develops the characters who were central to the first novel.

Ned Parker has retired as Constable (a decision he regrets) but local folk are used to calling him when there's trouble. A headless body in the river qualifies as trouble. Before Ned and the new Constable, Cody Parker, can get a handle on the murder, more bodies (some headless) turn up, leading officers to investigate booby-trapped tunnels that lead through the mountains of trash that have piled up in the Cotton Exchange (a rather extreme case of hoarding). Since the building is on the wrong side of the color barrier, the town's all-white power structure has studiously ignored the problem. The job of ferreting out the killer from the rubbish falls to Cody, based on his experience as a tunnel rat in Vietnam, with an able assist from John, the black sheriff's deputy whose job is to enforce the law in the black community.

Cody plays a much larger role in Burrows than he did in The Rock Hole. Ned plays a significant role, but the real stars continue to be Ned's grandson Top and Top's foul-mouthed cousin, a girl named Pepper. Top has some trouble of his own -- his cussing and smoking and hooky playing do not sit well with Ned -- but (thanks to Pepper's "encouragement") Top always finds himself near the dangerous situations that Ned and Cody and John encounter. When he isn't getting in the way, Top contributes to the effort to catch the killer.

Dialog is authentic, the pace is lively, and the story entertains. Burrows is a less effective mystery than The Rock Hole (the killer's identity is never a mystery in Burrows, although his true nature comes as a bizarre surprise), and while Reavis Wortham tries to duplicate the horrific elements that made The Rock Hole so chilling, he doesn't quite pull it off. The social issues that worked so well in The Rock Hole are less prominent in Burrows. Still, Burrows is a fun reading experience. The story generates suspense but the characters give the novel its charm. While I would recommend reading The Rock Hole before Burrows to gain a deeper appreciation of the characters (and because The Rock Hole is a better book), I can recommend Burrows to fans of The Rock Hole -- with the caveat that readers shouldn't expect the same level of intensity.

RECOMMENDED