The Bitter Past - Bruce Borgos

 The Bitter Past - Bruce Borgos

Publication Date: July 18, 2023

She read

This is the first in what is to be a series featuring Lincoln County, Nevada Sheriff Porter Beck.  After serving in Army intelligence, Beck returns to his hometown in the high desert as sheriff, a position once held by his elderly father who is in beginning stages of dementia.  The usually quiet police department is rocked when a retired FBI agent is found tortured and murdered. When Sana Locke,  a current FBI agent, shows up to investigate, the story is off on a thrilling ride involving nuclear testing in the 1950s and Russian spies.  The relationship of occurrences in the 50s to the present day story is told in alternating chapters entitled “the past.” 

I really liked the plot and found the story an engrossing, fast paced, action packed thriller.  I wasn’t as enamored of the characters, especially Porter Beck.  I was really put off by his constant sexualization of Sana.  He kept turning her into a sex object rather than a fellow professional.  I also was very uncomfortable with the character of Sana, for reasons I won’t go into because of spoilers.  There are a few story threads here, Borgos weaves them together nicely. 

There are a lot of good mystery series out there. I think this one has a lot of potential; I just hope that Porter grows up a bit and starts treating women with more respect. 

Thanks to #netgalley and #stmartinspress #minotaurbooks for the ARC.  

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