**Thanks to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the e-arc I received in exchange for my honest review, sorry it took me so long.**

This is the second book in the Earl Marcus trilogy. This series is what I’ll call Southern Gothic Noir. Earl has a lot of personal demons but remains a decent person trying to do the right thing. Sadly, there’s too many evil bastards out there getting in his way. But that’s makes for an excellent experience for the reader. I also listened to the audiobook and the narrator, Craig Jessen, does a fantastic job with his soothing deep voice he captures the feel and heart of Earl. Plus his southern accent is excellent.

I recommend reading the first book in the trilogy, Heaven’s Crooked Finger, before reading or listening to this one.

I highly recommend this series for fans of John Connolly’s Charlie Parker series. Very similar feel abd tone to both series. I can’t wait to read the 3rd book in the trilogy though I’m sad it’s not available on audio.

Early’s first book, Heaven’s Crooked Finger, focused on Earl Marcus’s relationship with his father, the preacher of a fundamentalist church that used snakes as part of its rituals. Having been bitten in the face during a ritual, Earl had fled the church and his father and vowed never to return. But that novel found him investigating and then bringing down the crooked institution.
In this novel, Earl has found some peace. He has returned to the hills of his childhood, is plying his investigative skills successfully, and has a girlfriend, Mary, a sheriff’s deputy he met in the first book. In doing a favor for his frenemy, Ronnie, he finds a cornfield where criminal activities may be taking place, and Mary disappears into the corn.

Whereas his first book focused on religion and the damage it can sometimes cause, Early focuses on racism here, both blatant and subtle. It appears that Mary was taken, not just because she was investigating with Earl, but more importantly, because she is black.
Early’s books always have some touch of the supernatural, whether there is a rational explanation or not. Here, there is a monster called Old Nathaniel, a former Confederate soldier who attacks blacks and takes their skulls as trophies. Earl must discover whether Mary has been taken by this demon or by a group of rich citizens acting out their racist fantasies. This little piece of mysticism adds to the tension and mystery of the story.
Early also could be a poet. His descriptions are lyrical, especially when he is describing the moon, the cornfields, and the overall beauty of rural Georgia. He quickly is becoming one of my favorite mystery writers because of the intriguing mysteries and the poetic language he uses. I cannot wait to see what he writes next.

Earl is in search of his girlfriend Mary, a cop from Atlanta, that he lost in a cornfield in the dark. Did the urban legend Old Nathaniel take her?
This book goes into racial issues plus drug problems previlent in the south.
You will not put down this book, it is that good.

The Valley of the Devil by Hank Early
Earl Marcus Mystery #2

Earl Marcus has found himself working as a PI in the small town Georgia. It is a place he never thought he would return to due to the many rather negative memories he has of growing up under the influence of his father’s rigid church but there he is again. He has a motley assortment of “friends” and a new guy in town to stir things up. Never having lived in the South I am only able to relate to what is written about it through history, books and movies I have seen. It is not a town I would choose to live in.

Earl’s girlfriend goes missing near the beginning of the book and most of the book he is looking for leads that will help him find her before something bad happens…and something bad is definitely on the horizon for her if she is not found. The area has a mythical being that kills and he is front and center in this story…along with racists and bigots and movie makers and others that really are rather despicable.

A lot happens in the book as Earl deals with his beliefs about good and evil and thinks back to the way he was raised. He would like to believe in something but has trouble doing so.

The story is dark and disturbing and not for the faint of heart. I did not read the first book in the series and have a feeling it might have given background information about Earl and others that would have given insight that might have been nice to have though it was not essential for this book to make sense. I did have trouble relating to some parts of the book but felt it was an overall good story and it did keep my interest.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC – This is my honest review.

3-4 Stars

“The world never ran out of monsters.” Earl Marcus is back fighting them In the Valley of the Devil.

In the rural Georgia mountain countryside, a new preacher has arrived. Jeb Walsh is running for the Senate, pushing his book and preaching his version of hate and intolerence at his town square rally. In the meantime, racist graffiti is turning up all over town. A rumor about Old Nathaniel, a hooded racist killer, has resurfaced after several African-Americans are reported missing.

Earl has recovered from the incidents in Heaven’s Crooked Finger. He is now a private detective. When his African-American Atlanta police officer girlfriend, Mary, is kidnapped, Earl pulls out all the stops to find her.

In the Valley of the Devil really lives up to the thriller label. It is an exhilarating pulse-pounding ride to the finish. Highly recommended but I cannot overemphasize the need to read Heaven’s Crooked Finger first. Events in the first book continue to impact the characters in this book plus there are major spoilers in here. Luckily, both the first book and this one are excellent and earn 5 stars!

Thanks to the publisher, Crooked Lane Books, and NetGalley for an advanced copy.

So often the case with follow-ups or sequels is that they end up not being nearly as good as the first book, so I wasn't sure how "In the Valley of the Devil," the second book in the Earl Marcus series, was going to fare or how the author was going to follow a book as good as the first one. I'm happy to say that this novel was just as interesting as the first one, and in some cases, even more interesting. It revealed a sinister organization within the small town the protagonist is from that goes way deeper than he thought, and similarly to the first book, I could not put this one down. It was a thrill ride all the way through but with the same attention to detail and in-depth characterization as the first one. I can't really say much else without getting spoilery or revealing too much about the plot, but this is one of the absolute best horror/thriller series out there right now and I highly encourage fans of Tom Piccirilli to pick up the books in this series if they haven't already. For fans of Southern and small town horror, this will also tickle your fancy. I can't wait to see what the author does next!

Earl Marcus is now working as a private investigator in the North Georgia mountains. At the request of his 'friend' Ronnie he and girlfriend Mary arrange to meet him at night in the cornfields belonging to Lane Jefferson. But Mary goes missing.
Couldn't take to the story or any of the characters. It might have been better if I had read Book 1 in the series.

Earl's girlfriend Mary has gone missing- has she been taken by white supremacists? Why? This mixes several genres but at root is a thriller where a damaged man searches for the truth. Specifically, Earl has visions and a back story with a really out there father. North Georgia can't possibly be this rife with bad people but that's how the novel reads. The prose was occasionally a bit too purple for me but it is a page turner. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

I absolutely adored Heaven’s Crooked Finger, Early’s first book in this series. So, it’s an understatement to say I was anxious for book two.

The writing here is just as descriptive. “He was like a gnat at dusk that won’t stop chewing on your skin, or a hangnail you can’t ever get rid of because it cut too deep.”

The plot grabbed me from the get go. Earl was changed at an early age by a snakebite handling rattlers in his father’s church. Since then, he’s had premonitions and vivid dreams. This sort of thing, in the hands of a lesser writer, would not play well with me. But here, it works. “It was the dream. I didn’t want to admit it, but that was what was behind my fear, my hesitation, and I hated myself for it. I didn’t want to be the kind of man who believed his own visions.” And the rest of the characters are wonderful. Ronnie and Rufus, each in their own way, have great insight into the human condition. All the characters are fully drawn.

You have no problems envisioning the scenes or the people. This is more than your standard mystery when someone goes missing. Much more. It’s not a fast paced book. It’s not a book you’re going to be tearing through the pages. Nor would you want to. Because then you’d miss the writing and the great descriptions and dialog.

This is a timely book. It deals with re-emerging racism, both overt and covert. And I’m not sure if it’s just me, but I kept feeling like there was a sub-text to the book. “Of course, there were some that would always follow a persuasive leader, but I couldn’t help but draw a distinction between folks who didn’t have worldly experience and education to know better and those that did.”

My thanks to netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for an advance copy of this novel.

Another fantastic, gritty north Georgia mystery from Hank Early, the second in his Earl Marcus series. Earl’s mix-raced girlfriend, Mary, disappears and he encounters some extremely dangerous people with sinister intentions in his quest for her return.

What I love about this series are the descriptions of the north Georgia mountains and the colorful characters (with their many secrets) that inhabit this area. Early successfully tackles current issues of racism and immigration, while maintaining suspense and mystery. The ending indicates that book #3 will be soon to follow. For those who have not read this series, I would definitely recommend starting at the beginning with Heaven’s Crooked Finger.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for for providing me with a complimentary e-copy ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I read this book while on a trip to the Appalachian Mountains in Virginia so the stage was set for me. I really loved the first in the series, this one was good but didn't live up to the "edge of your seat" like the first one did. But there was quite a bit of mystery, angst, hatred and bigotry in this one. When Earl's girlfriend is kidnapped and things unravel to reveal a deep hatred and bigotry running through the area Earl isn't sure if either of them will make it out of there alive.

3.5 I was quite taken with the first book in this series. in this, the second Earl Marcus, now a private investigator is in a long distance relationship with his girlfriend Mary, when she goes missing. He thought he had dispelled the evil, in his own father, but it seems there is an unending amount of evil in those hills. As Early tries to find out what happened to Mary, he encounters a strange corn field, extreme racial prejudice, and an old folk legend come to life.

I like the mix of different elements in this series. Old friends, old secrets, old fears and unending hate are all part of this story. It was quite long, I felt it could have been shorter, there was quite a bit of running around, with Marcus managing to escape dangerous situations again and again. Beat up quite badly many times. Strained credibility. So while entertaining, it wasn't as tightly plotted as the first.

A likable series, gritty with interesting characters, I will definitely read the third.

ARC from Netgalley.

I loved the idea of Old Nathaniel, an urban legend based in the mountains, as a villain in this novel. It's creepy and could have been chill inducing. I wanted to be spooked.

However, while Old Nathaniel is creepy, there was no atmosphere in this novel to set the stage. Earl ran around trying to find Mary, but there was so little description of the setting (or it was described so blandly) that it was hard to be fearful. A forest isn't scary on its own. Even the cornfield that was revisited multiple times seemed more annoying to navigate than otherworldly or terrifying.

In addition, everything was too convenient and seemed to happen because the plot needed it to. When not using his fists (which usually backfired on him), Earl was using his 'feelings' or instincts. For a private investigator he used shockingly little logic. Instead, seeming to luck into information, or just so happen to remember that bit now of all times. The villains were just as bad. Running when they had an opportunity to take Earl out, not tracking him down to his home when he returned (a known location!) - it seemed as if the villains were being held back by an invisible string. They'd do bad things, but they'd only go so far. After I read of all the terrible things that they have done and wanted to do, I didn't buy them restraining themselves like they did at other times.

This novel gets a two because I did read to the end to find out what happened to Mary. However, the constant racism and the lack of sense made this difficult to read and I wouldn't recommend doing so.

I received a review copy.

Private investigator Earl Marcus is at war with the white supremacists infesting his rural Georgia town. With the assistance of his blind best friend, an angelically patient library director, a man he'd rather have nothing to do with, a girl whose brother has also disappeared, and a raft of other allies, he races against the clock to save his girlfriend, a black homicide cop who went missing in a spooky cornfield — allegedly captured by Old Nathaniel, the devilish mythical figure that haunts the valley. Earl, still reeling from his traumatic relationship with his fire-and-brimstone preacher father and disturbed by his latest prophetic dream, battles both powerful enemies and a shadowy bogeyman.

While the basic message it champions (racism = bad) can only be praised, sadly this book tests the tensile strength of its readers' credulity to such an extent that the facepalms detract from any good intentions it may have. Earl's escapades as he runs from point A to point B to point C with little apparent rhyme or reason, liberally distributing punches, pointing his gun with predictable regularity, getting knocked around, then setting off again on his wild pursuit, left me thoroughly exhausted and bewildered. What saves this novel, in my opinion, is the weaving of local folklore and criminal history into Old Nathaniel as an instrument of racist violence.

If you're looking for a novel featuring an impressively lucky yet spectacularly unlucky character with poor impulse control, frequent memory lapses, quasi-superhuman resistance to pain, and chronic phone charging issues, this comedy of errors is for you.

This book wrestles with the concept of evil in our world. Where does it come from and why are some people affected by it and others not? There are no answers and Hank Early doesn't give out platitudes which I was glad of. There are evil people, and if we knew how they were created we could look for a cure. But it is nebulous and unfathomable. But focusing on the good helps. I read a lot of crime fiction. I think it warps my view of the world. Sometimes I have to stop and notice the kindness of others to balance it all. Hank Early gets my vote as not only being able to entertain with a story, but to go deeper and delve into the mystery of our hidden selves.

Whoa! Hank Early has found his perfect niche in this series. It does NOT get better than this. Oozing atmosphere, this perfect blend of gothic horror, combined with a heavy dose of classic noir is as addictive as any drug. I'm dying to see where Earl Marcus goes from here. Wherever it is I'm going right along with him!