I really enjoyed Bull Mountain and Like Lions by this author so when I saw Panowich’s latest offering on Netgalley, of course, I had to request it.

This is a page turning action packed mystery crime novel set in the North GA mountains that I love and reside in. Hopefully, we don’t have anything this sinister going on in our small town mountains.

There is a lot going on in this novel. Loss and love, deep friendships, new friendships, hard work, gruesome murders, missing autistic child, betrayal, and loyalty. The perfect combination for a suspenseful read.

Thank you Netgalley and Minotaur Books for an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review. It was enjoyable to read a book by a local author set in areas I know well.

Hard Cash Valley is a rock-solid country noir crime thriller set in the same northern Georgia mountains as two earlier books by Panowich. From the opening scene through to the end, it's a hard-to-put-down action-packed ride. Panowich takes the classic scene of a petty conman/gambler/ thief on the run with a suitcase full of money and breathes new life into this crime fiction trope. And our petty grifter isn't even the star of the show. That's a life-weary arson investigator haunted by a past so harrowing that lesser men would've home and swallowed their guns and by a death sentence he can't come to grips with. The ghosts of his past, particularly the gorgeous Gwen, are so real. But, the horrors of the present can't be ignored. A lot of the time these crime thrillers are peopled by caricatures of real people, but the characters here are real, vivid, believable, and desperately flawed. A terrific read!

Hard Cash Valley is a rock-solid country noir crime thriller set in the same northern Georgia mountains as two earlier books by Panowich. From the opening scene through to the end, it's a hard-to-put-down action-packed ride. Panowich takes the classic scene of a petty conman/gambler/ thief on the run with a suitcase full of money and breathes new life into this crime fiction trope. And our petty grifter isn't even the star of the show. That's a life-weary arson investigator haunted by a past so harrowing that lesser men would've home and swallowed their guns and by a death sentence he can't come to grips with. The ghosts of his past, particularly the gorgeous Gwen, are so real. But, the horrors of the present can't be ignored. A lot of the time these crime thrillers are peopled by caricatures of real people, but the characters here are real, vivid, believable, and desperately flawed. A terrific read!