July 30, 2020 - Staff Reviews

The Revelators

By Ace Atkins

Release Date: July 10, 2020

Ebook Available from WV Reads!

https://wvreads.overdrive.com/media/5057248

2.5 Stars - The latest entry in the Quinn Colson series brings a lot of long-awaited closure to long time readers like myself. But this may was not my favorite entry. Most of the southern small town atmosphere is here though and Atkins doesn't leave out a single character we've come to know and love or hate in rural Mississippi.

This story starts off slower than the early books in the series, and there's a brief recap I didn't need. And I was disappointed in the Colsons a bit. Quinn's battling a pain killer addiciton. Cady just comes off as bitter here to me. I couldn't understand Maggie or Brandon's attitude. And Jean's not even excited about Elvis. But those are minor details. Chunks of the plot seemed excessive. Most of us wanted to see the Dixie Mafia/criminal empire toppled. I didn't need the illegal immigration storyline or the misadventures of two twelve-year-olds.

I think some aspects of The Revelators are better than the last The Shameless: more action by good guys, down time for Quinn, and straight forward narrative in the present time (I really hated the podcast in the prior book). But somewhere along the way, I felt like I was reading a different series. Lilly Virgil barely made appearances.  There were one too many people working undercover. And Donny Varner seemed to get more page time and character development than anybody somehow. The pathetic attempts made by a couple characters made me roll my eyes. I will say though, as always, Atkins keeps the second half of the book rolling and building up to a crazy climax. Fans of this series will be glad to get the conclusion we needed but if a reader were to start here in the series, don't judge it by this book alone.
(NS)