Fractured Truth by Susan Furlong – a #BookReview

My First #fivestar Read of the Year

Title: Fractured Truth (A Bone Gap Travellers Novel Book 2)

Genre: Thriller & Suspense, Mystery, Animals

Publisher: Kensington

Publication Date: December 18, 2018

Print Length: 288 pages

• ISBN-10:1496711696
• ISBN-13:978-1496711694
• ASIN: B07BVDNVC9

Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title and Cover: Fractured Truth – February snow in the mountains

Book Blurb:

When the mutilated remains of a young woman are found in an Appalachian Mountain cave, newly sworn-in deputy sheriff Brynn Callahan is forced to track down a killer driven by twisted motives . . .  

Not long after donning the uniform of the McCreary County Sheriff’s department in Bone Gap, Tennessee, ex-Marine Brynn Callahan faces her first official homicide. On a cold February morning, a lone cross-country skier stumbles across the mutilated body of a young woman. Sent to investigate, Brynn is shocked when she recognizes the victim as a fellow Traveller, Maura Keene.

Maura held a solid standing both within the Travellers’ insular community and among the settled townspeople—a fact that makes her murder all the more disturbing to Brynn, who also straddles the two worlds.  After her trained K-9, Wilco, digs up human bones, and then a scrap of paper scrawled with arcane Latin phrases is uncovered, Brynn finds evidence leading her to question those closest to her—and closing the case becomes a deeply personal matter.

While trying to suppress local superstitions and prejudices, Brynn discovers that Maura was keeping a dangerous secret. And as the bones Wilco found are analyzed by forensics, Brynn harbors the troubling suspicion that she knows who they belong to. Still struggling with PTSD, Brynn must put her career on the line and her life at risk to find justice for a woman not unlike herself—haunted by her past, and caught in a vicious cycle she may never
escape . . . 

My Review:

Frigid February temperatures make for a hazardous climb into the site of a homicide, protagonist’s Brynn Calllahan’s first with the McCreary County Sheriff’s Department in Bone Gap, Tennessee. The ex-Marine is running coordination between her own Irish Traveller (or Pavees, gypsies) community in the Appalachians and that of the “settled” community. Her K-9 companion, Wilco is a human cadaver dog, popular and necessary to the area investigations. The problem here is that the victim is a Pavee and it sets off an intense internal conflict with both.

Damaged, broken, fighting flashbacks with her PTSD, she dulls the pain with both pills and booze. But she is walking a fine line between her work with Pusser and her own people. Wilco was released to her, physically damaged, three-legged and deaf, but highly trained and extremely useful. Moreover, he naturally gathers both admirers and friends alike, who have been awed before by his successful hunts. This novel, from the first page, pulls you in immediately.

Brynn has not made a lot of friends within the sheriff’s unit, although Sheriff Pusser inexplicably seems to have her back. There is a strong, strict moral code with her own people, and they generally take care of their own. Brynn, however, has long languished on the fringe, not wholly accepted, viewed with suspicion and not a little trust. She fights the same battle of credibility with the settled people, and with her penchant for the pills and drinking is incapable of establishing a stronger profile. Wilco is her friend, ally, buddy, and confidant. Doesn’t matter he can’t hear, he has that canine innate ability to feel her pain. Brynn loves her Gran, but do her loyalties lie with settled law or family?

Brynn has no problem making excuses for her behavior, some of which she decries in others, denying a difficulty exists. Isn’t she doing her job? Does it come down to prejudices? Prejudices on both sides then, as her community isn’t perfect either. “People can find a way to justify just about anything.” Except…

The investigation swings into high gear with the discovery of a second victim. About the same time, however, an old story surfaces which she will have to confront, creating a constant stream of conflict. Kids haven’t really changed since she was in school suffering labels and taunts, and eventually a multi-layered well-plotted storyline emerges, combining Brynn’s torment with deeper losses and disappointments. She is haunted and together these circumstances may be something she cannot conquer.

She is complex, flawed, but utterly fascinating. Brynn and Wilco create such a compelling force it’s almost impossible to stop reading before you know how the story will conclude. The well-developed support characters provide a complete picture along with descriptions of the mountains and nearby village, cold and picturesque at the same time as foreboding and sinister. The dialogue sets the stage, many times turning raw, threatening. The tension builds to a massively intricate conclusion.

This is book 2 (according to Amazon) of a two book series. NO! It can’t end like this! Although you could probably read this novel as a standalone, you might get a more complete picture of the whole scenario if you began with book 1. You may not understand Brynn, but you’ll be engaged, involved, invested. You can’t solve this mystery. And you can’t wait for the next one.

I was given an ebook download by the publisher and NetGalley and am extremely grateful for the opportunity to read and review my second book in this series. Recommended to any looking for a unique premise and an exceptionally engaging mystery.

Rosepoint Publishing:  Five of Five Stars

The Author: Susan Furlong the author of several mystery series including the acclaimed Bone Gap Travellers series. She also contributes to the New York Times bestselling Novel Idea Mysteries under the pen name Lucy Arlington. She has worked as a freelance writer, academic writer, ghost writer, translator, high-school language arts teacher, and martial arts instructor. She and her family live in central Illinois. Visit her on Facebook or at http://www.susanfurlong.com.

©2019 V Williams