Spider Mountain

From Publishers WeeklyFull of imaginative plotting touches, Deutermann's fast-paced sequel to his acclaimed 2005 suspense novel, The Cat Dancers, finds Cam Richter, formerly a lieutenant with the Manceford County, N.C., sheriff's office, now doing less stressful work as the head of a PI firm staffed with other ex-cops. Park ranger Mary Ellen Goode, Richter's more-than-colleague who was severely traumatized in their last joint inquiry, reaches out to him for help after a probationary ranger is raped and left for dead in a Smoky Mountains national park. Richter's inquiries soon reveal that the crime was tangentially related to a much bigger criminal conspiracy, possibly centered on methamphetamine sales orchestrated by a figure out of a Grimm's fairy tale, the evil Grinny Creigh, and her incestuous clan. The author's impressive ability to bring the remote Appalachian region to life bodes well for the health of this series. (Jan.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From BooklistHigh in the mountains of North Carolina, a family operated methamphetamine gang has finally, after years of operation outside the law, gone too far. When Cam Richter, a freelance investigative consultant (and formerly a lieutenant in the sheriff's department), discovers that the malevolent Creigh family has branched out into child abuse, he vows to do everything in his power to bring them down, once and for all. But he didn't reckon on Grinny Creigh, matriarch of the clan and an incredibly ruthless, amoral villain. She is also one of the crime genre's more original and memorable creations, a mother-cum-crime-lord with a heart forged out of cold steel. Grinny is a welcome change from the usual sort of thriller villain, and she makes what could have been a ho-hum novel into something altogether different. This is definitely a cut above previous offerings (mainly Clancy-like military thrillers) from retired U.S. Navy captain Deutermann. David PittCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved