Cover Image: Rough Country

Rough Country

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Member Reviews

A veteran turned detective gets a call out for a body found in the woods. He gets there and discovers a 16 year old girl who was strangled and had a weird symbol carved into her. Haunted by the memories of his own daughter's disappearance, he digs himself into this case. As the story progresses he discovers that the back woods are keeping strange secrets. While I wasn't disappointed with the ending, it seemed to wrap up to quick and neat for me. I'm also disappointed there really wasn't any resolution with his ex wife or son other than a brief sentence. I'd like to see more of this rough detective though. The narrator was wonderful, very easy to listen to.

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When a young girl turns up murdered with a strange symbol carved into her, the police department has no idea what their about to uncover. Investigator Reed Raleigh is a veteran with PTSD, his life is kind of a mess but it turns out he is just what this case needs. Turns out quite a few people in this town have hidden second lives and that dead girl was just a small break in the dam of deviance and violence Reed is about to uncover.

I love a gritty cop drama. Reed is a great protagonist and this little town is full of unusual characters. I liked the turn this one took and how in depth of a view we got of what the town was really up to. Definitely not a thriller but rather a solid police procedural with a complex mystery at its core. I’d definitely read another story set in this town with Reed investigating.

I did this one on audio and the narrator’s performance was great for this style of novel. It gave me a bit of a podcasty feel that kept me wanting to listen.

Thanks to Dreamscape Media for access to the audiobook via Netgalley. All opinions above are my own.

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This book made me sad but it was a good read. Missing and murdered kids/young adults always makes me sad but if the story is well told it's worth it. I will definitely be picking up another book by this author!

#RoughCountry
#NetGalley

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I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the audio version. I really like the narrator. The cover is really good. This is a pretty good mystery thriller novel that had me on the edge of my seat. The author did a good job with the story plot and had my interest for the whole book.

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Thank you to NetGalley for the advance reader audio copy of this book. Brearton has proven to be a great psychological thriller author. This story has all the aspects of hooking you in and keeping the reader interested to the very end. An investigator with his own troubles and a similar experience in his life makes for a super novel.

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Rough Country AUDIO by TJ Brearton is a police procedural that morphs into investigating the crime of the century in this part of rural New York. Reed Raleigh (Rally) is a divorced veteran whose stepdaughter was killed when she was six. He felt guilty he had not been there for her and he was not really there for his fourteen year old son. He was divorced from his wife and preferred to avoid confrontation and so he avoided the whole issue. When a fifteen year old girl was found strangled, mutilated, and left on a path in the woods, he had to start getting his head around this crime as well as his own life. It appeared to be random, until he heard about another death, similar, from years before. Then later, a reporter told him about a girl who had disappeared 40 years earlier. They couldn’t be related, until he discovered how inbred the community was and how often families overlapped and intermarried. He was having trouble with this crime. The further he got, the further behind he fell.

Reed was at his core a good guy. He had blamed himself for too much and it made him a good investigator, but not such a good man. He was shocked when he discovered how people appeared to entertain themselves out in the boonies, and he was further shocked at the group mentality over the individual. People didn’t necessarily care for their children the way he thought they should. They were ending up dead. This was a decent book, although some of the details left me cold. It was a good example of getting ahold of information and following it no matter where it led.

George Newbern was a good narrator for this story. He sounded like Reed. He was easy to listen to and made the story make sense. He didn’t use cheesy voices but played it straight and serious. I liked him.

I was invited to listen to a free e-ARC of the audio version of Rough Country by Dreamscape Media, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #DreamscapeMedia #TJBrearton #RoughCountry

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Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the gifted audiobook of Rough Country by T.J. Brearton. It's perfectly narrated by George Newbern who I will forever associate with We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker, and at times the spare writing style of Rough Country reminded me of Whitaker's five-star novel.

Perfect for fall reading, this is a police procedural set in a small town in upstate New York. The action begins in the first chapter when a teenage girl is found dead in the woods, and Reed Raleigh from the New York State Police Major Crimes Unit is sent to investigate. When the ex-boyfriend is questioned, the investigation takes a shocking turn and leads to plenty of interesting suspects, a history of secrets, and a higher-than-I-anticipated body count.

I don't typically read police procedurals, but I was invested in this story. The plot moved along at a good pace and kept me engaged. I liked Reed the more I got to know about him and his personal demons. This feels like the first book in a new series. I hope the author writes more novels featuring Reed Raleigh.

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This is mix of intrigue and I didn't see that coming. I highly enjoyed this story. It has great characters and an interesting plot. The writing was engaging and keeps you sucked into the story. The narration was great. Love the perfect match of voice to story. Very well done.

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Thanks to NetGallery and the publishers for this complimentary audio copy of Rough Country by TJ Brearton. Very interesting story with well developed characters… lots of twists and turns to keep you interested. I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook and recommend it to fans of the mystery genre!

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I finished this audiobook today, ROUGH COUNTRY, by T. J. Brearton, and narrated by George Newbern.

Inspector Reed is called into this backwoods town to investigate the death of a teenage girl. He’s wanting to solve this case as it reminds him of his daughter that went missing at about the same age. The clues make it seem like the whole town is involved and that it might involve other similar cases in nearby town both 20 and 50 years ago.

I’m actually surprised that this book has so many 5 star reviews. I was bored throughout the majority of it. The inspectors missing daughter was mentioned rather off-hand a few times, but no further information about it. I even looked to see if this book is part of a series and maybe that case was covered in an earlier one, but not that I can find. He also jumped to a wild answer about this case and only followed clues that fit it. Of course he figured it out to be correct but it was all too cut and dry for me. 3 stars.

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Detective Reed Royal is ex military with a year of devinity school PTSD and his known the loss of his own daughter is called to the neighboring county to investigate the murder of a teenager named Kasey Stevens. He is immediately suspicious of her mother who doesn’t Seem to want to help them find the answers. He also wants to know what are the strange Marks carved in Kasey stomach. The more he investigates the stranger the answers he gets become. From the whole town seeming to be agnostic to a teenage girl who doesn’t text on her phone days at a time? This was a twisty demented case and when he gets to the answers he will have to arrest multiple people but oh what a great story this was! I loved Detective royal I especially love how he talked out the case and we got to go step by step with him until the end. I hope there’s another book with Detective Reed and I wish he would’ve talk to Dr. Crane more because I like those interactions the best. I wish he would’ve spoke to him more during the book but it was still a great read. I listen to the audio version and love the narrator and thought he had a great voice especially for the main character. I received this book from NetGalley and I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

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"Expectations are just resentments waiting to happen."

Major crimes investigator Reid Randolph is having a rough day; three deaths in 24 hours starting with a teenage girl in the woods with a creepy symbol carved into her. It's not like he was having a good day before what with dealing with his PTSD, his estranged son, his unhappy ex wife and his stepdaughter is missing too. Rough Country by T.J. Brearton is just as much about Reid as the bizarre townsfolk where there is a lot of murder in one day.

Narrator George Newbern is perfect in his portrayal of a crazy cast of characters but especially endearing as the long suffering Reid. I hope this is the start of a series because Reid not only solved the murders he made me want more of him. The author has created a new broken hero and I am all in.

I received a free copy of this audiobook from Dreamscape Media via #netgalley for fair and honest reviews. All opinions are my own.

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In Rough Country, author T. J. Brearton writes about New York State Major Crimes police officer Reid Randolph as he investigates a bizarre murder of a young girl found in the woods. But is this murder really what it seems? Thus begins the many twists and turns and uncovering secrets in a small town. But Reid is also fighting his own demons of PTSD and the disappearance of his own daughter.
This was a good book that kept you guessing with the many twists and turns of the story line. The audio-book narration was very well done. I would recommend this book. I received a copy of this audio-book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This was a creepy and twisted book. I was hooked from the very beginning and was on the edge of my seat as the mystery unfolded. The plot was wild and was well done, it had just the right amount of suspense.

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This one is full of unpredictable twists and turns. A recent murder investigation leads to another death years before. That one leads to another. Why has no one connected the dots. What is going on in this small town. Everyone is so hush-hush. Something sinister is at play. Is it a serial killer or ritualistic killings from a cult? The investigator, Reed Raleigh is determined to find out, but no one is talking. George Newbern does an excellent job of narrating.
Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media, LLC for this advanced review copy. In return, I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

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In small town in upstate New York, a young girl is discovered dead with a strange symbol carved into her. The detective who is tasked with investigating has his own issues and had no intention of not solving this case.
Rough County has an interesting plot, but I struggled to stay invested. This isn’t a book I really connected with.

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An excellent read

The author and the narrator made an amazing job making you feel part of the investigation, making you wonder what was really going on. I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this Audiobook received via NetGalley.

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I listened to the audio version of this book and I enjoyed it. This is a new to me author and I loved the writing style as well as the story itself. The narrator was great!

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3.5⭐
I love small-town mysteries. I'm lucky to have found T.J Brearton's ":Nowhere to Hide" last year and was hooked!

Teenage Kasey Stevens' body was discovered with a symbol carved on her abdomen. A teacher walking her dog found her near a brook in the woods of rural Alliston, New York. Reed Raleigh with Major Crimes is there to investigate and found there are more rotten things going on in this little town.

Reed Raleigh is a great character with family/personal issues of his own and PTSD from the war. The case with the dead girl had affected him personally. Without giving too much away, I can't say why I like this one less than "Nowhere to Hide". I did enjoy the majority of the book until the first reveal. I think it comes down to personal preference of the plot.

This one was very suspenseful and grabbed my attention from the beginning. There are plenty of suspects and red herrings that kept me guessing. I would love to read more Reed Raleigh, but think this is a standalone mystery. I hope I'm wrong.

George Newbern's narration is fantastic and I really enjoy his performance. I think the narrator's voice adds so much and can make you enjoy the characters even more.

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Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audio book.

So many twists! There is a LOT going on in this one. Good pacing and decent characters. The narrator was good as well.

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