Anyone who liked the first two books in the Porter Beck series will love this one! They were both genre home runs but Borgos hits a grand slam with The Blue Horse. This one is epic. The seeds of promise Borgos planted in the first couple of books are fully realized in this instant classic. Beck and company face an international danger that might be too much for them to overcome. The crisis is compounded by threats to Beck's loved ones. What's a Sheriff to do when confronted with professional and personal challenges? The Blue Horse is a book of triumph and tragedy. Borgos moved into a new level of greatness with this book. The final act is wonderfully executed. This will be one of the great reads of 2025. Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books, and NetGalley for the advance reading copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Wild horses are being rounded up and moved to other locations,supposedly for the good of the surrounding areas. Activists are protesting the inhumane treatment and the involvement of a lithium mine. Then people start dying. A helicopter pilot is shot and killed and then the woman in charge is murdered in a really horrific manner. Lots of plot twists,which I particularly enjoyed. I did not guess the bad guy at all. I really enjoyed reading this.

It’s 2020 and Nevada county sheriff Porter Beck’s small department is scrambling to cover protests over a Bureau of Land Management roundup of wild horses when a helicopter pilot and BLM manager are killed. The murders are blamed on the protesters, but it seems just a little too convenient for Beck. Hampered by COVID, Beck and his girlfriend state detective Charlie Blue Horse do their best to dig deeper and soon learn that a new lithium mining operation may be involved. What’s really going on and at what cost?

Third in the series that just keeps getting better. Great new author for fans of CJ Box andTony Hillerman. Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

A fan of a book series is always concerned about the next book, right? Y'all know what I'm talking about - will it live up to the previous books? This book definitely meets and exceeds my expectations. I am not generous with 5-star ratings because how many books are that perfect, but this one deserves 5 stars.

Sheriff Porter Beck and his girlfriend, Detective Charlie Blue Horse, investigate murders of humans and horses. There are other characters that enrich this story, as well....so likeable, so engaging, and I just kept rooting for them all. WOW. I laughed out loud, I squalled more than once, and I could not put this book down until I finished. This author is a craftsman, a weaver of life stories, this time along with a particular focus on the plight of wild horses in the West (without taking sides as the author, which takes some skill, as well). Read the whole series, is my recommendation. Five stars!

Great book. Bruce Borgos has a great character in Porter Beck. This is the third installment of Porter and it is another great read. Keep them coming. Great use and reference of the covid times.. Can't wait for the next book.

Environmental terrorism, lithium mining and the wild mustangs of the Nevada desert. Hot button topics of our time. My first Porter Beck book and hopefully there will be many more. The timeliness of the topics and the fact that I live only a few hundred miles from the set location made this story particularly heartfelt. I can truly recommend this as a wonderful read. I received an ARC from NetGalley, and the opinions expressed are my own.

48-year-old Sheriff Porter Beck has a murder to investigate. His Nevada State Trooper girlfriend, Charlie Blue Horse has been assigned to the investigation too. She is all professional, but something isn't right. It's September 2020 and there's a possibly contagious virus that is infiltrating Lincoln County along with a war over the wild horse population.
Brinley, Porter's sister is out in the wild with a group that is working with youth offenders, trying to give them a look at different ways of life. Young Rafa isn't buying it, and he is causing trouble, keeping Brinley on her toes.
I received the advanced reader's copy of this book from Minotaur Books through NetGalley and this is my own unsolicited opinion of it. It is an excellently well written mystery. I'll be right up front. I don't care for foul language. It's that simple. I nearly put this book aside because of the swearing, but the characters and the early mystery was interesting to me, and I read on. There is something going on behind the scenes that Borgos slowly brings to light. A graphic murder is handled as tastefully as possible. I really like the variety of characters and the camaraderie of the law officers who work with Beck. Chief Deputy Tuffy Scruggs (great name) is one of my favorite characters. I appreciated the mention of God. This is good writing, a story that tells itself without the author showing any kind of personal opinion. The handling of the virus exactly fits the experiences I saw here, including loss. And I love Bo!
I figure on a 4.8 rating and have rounded it to 5 stars. This is my first Bruce Borgos book, and I am interested in reading more from the Porter Beck series. I'm really glad I had the opportunity to read it. It worked as a stand-alone for me.

The Blue Horse by Bruce Burgos This third installment in the Porter Beck series was as enjoyable and suspenseful as the first two. Even with the sadness thrown in I loved the book and look forward to the next. Please let there be a next one. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read another great book.

A big thank-you to NetGalley and the publisher for offering me the opportunity to read and review this book prior to its publication.

One description included the suggestion that readers of books by C. J. Box might also like the Porter Beck series. I have read Box's books and enjoyed them, but I had not read the two earlier books in the Porter Beck series, so I checked them out of the library and read them before tackling The Blue Horse. A reader could probably enjoy book 3 of the series without having read the first two, but my own preference is to read books in series order so I can better understand the setting and the characters that were introduced in the earlier books.

Other reviewers have provided fairly detailed synopses, and I will not try to duplicate their excellent efforts. Suffice it to say the story includes the controversial rounding up of wild horses to relocate them as well as a lithium mine that might be poisoning the water table. And in between the larger plot points, there are personal and family difficulties to deal with in the early days of the COVID pandemic.

I consider a book to be very good if it pushes me to stay up way past my bedtime because I can't put it down. This book (as well as the earlier ones in the series) met that criteria.

The story has many moving parts...all of which tell a powerful story. I enjoyed the story despite never having ready a Borgos novel before. I appreciated the details and the way the story played out all the way to the end. The book is a continuation of the series but can be read as a stand alone without much trouble.

I was invited by the publisher to review this book. This is part of an existing series about Porter Beck, a sheriff, but it was not necessary to have read the prior books to get a good grasp of this character and his background. This book is about a rounding up of wild horses, the Bureau of Land Management and one of its employee's murder, and the variety of groups and people who could have easily committed the crime.

This was a great, fast-paced book. I loved the incorporation of the federal department and the exploration of the issues surrounding the wild horses. This was a multi-layered book that provided many avenues for who could have committed the murder, and it was fun traveling down all of those. Plus, there was a solid personal element to this book as we also got to explore Beck's personal life and how that impacted his work in the field.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to Bruce Borgos, St, Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for access to the Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This story takes place in Nevada and is centered around murders associated with a wild horse roundup. Detective Porter Beck is on the case along with his staff and other law enforcement agencies.

I found the characters engaging, the writing well done, and the dialog and situations realistic. This is also the first book I’ve read to incorporate the Covid Pandemic in a natural way.

A well written and absorbing detective story, this book is the third in the Porter Beck series and can be read independent of the others. Recommended.

I love the Porter Beck mysteries! The author always writes the characters so well that you feel you know them. The story grabs you and keeps you hooked from beginning to end. Like all of his other books I highly recommend this book.

This really was a good read! Most mysteries feature one character, or maybe 2, chasing down leads to find the perpetrator. This has more people involved. They all split up going in different directions and pursuing different possibilities all to find the same perpetrator, or in this case, perpetrators.

The bureau of Land Management is moving wild horses to a different place so they can continue to roam free. But there are those who want the animals to be left to their own desires. I love that Borgos shows us actual facts about this controversy (and I personally take the side of the horses).

The problem starts when a helicopter pilot (he's herding the horses) is shot and killed. Shortly afterwards, another person is killed in an entirely different way. One more is shot. Completely obvious who is behind this - except Sheriff Beck doesn't agree. He's not sure who is behind this - and that's where the story gets complex. As a subplot, Charlie Blue Horse is his girlfriend who is pregnant. There is also a teenager who is angry and wants to be on his own away from people - and yet, he comes through in the end.

And all of this happens during the pandemic. A few characters are stricken with it, and one dies from Covid.

Beck has a few people working for him and they go off in different directions to catch the perpetrators.

The only thing I didn't like - the similes. One or two are OK but this author goes on and on with them and it gets to be annoying.

This author is new to me but quickly became a favorite due to his skillful story telling. His writing style is tight and the action moves along. The characters are full bodied and realistic. Lol. Unfortunately you get so wrapped up it is hard to put the book down. I stayed up until 2am to finish it.

This is one of those, drop everything, and read! Love Porter and Charlie, along with their team. One of my fav series to read. The sheriff's office is overwhelmed with murders in their county and the race is on to solve the case. It keeps you wondering til the very end.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgallery for the advanced copy in return for an honest review. Looking forward to the next!

This is a fascinating look at the Bureau of Land Management and the chaotic events surrounding the crash of a helicopter and the death of its pilot. When Porter Beck and girlfriend, Charlie Blue Horse investigate, they discover many discrepancies that complicate all the disputes they've seen before and add to the tension. I raced through this one as it was one of those novels that could have kept me up all night!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

Bruce Borgos penned a stunning narrative with engaging characters that could be tangibly felt. I am newer to this author, but color me a fan--a blue fan! ;)

I was so excited to be given the opportunity to read the soon to be published novel, "The Blue Horse." This was a third book in the Sheriff Beck series and it, as were the first two, definitely a good read.

In this story there is a clash between the Bureau of Land Management and their process of moving wild horses to a place where they can't damage any ranchers land or animals and those who wish to see the horses remain free to roam where they wish. I have heard little bits about the wild mustangs and I have to say that the information in this novel gives one plenty to think about.

All is working, under protest, until the pilot in the helicopter herding the horses is shot dead in the air. Then, another person connected with the BLM is murdered in a quite horrific manner and everything points to one person. Not to Beck though. He is seeing something different. Toss in a new lithium mine and things just go awry.

Beck and his girlfriend Charlie Blue Horse start an investigation on several fronts and it leads to seriously bad people.

I loved this book and I could not put it down which is always a good thing and a bad thing. Not putting it down means reading it too fast.

Thank you Minotaur books and NetGalley for this ARC.

An emotionally charged novel that combines mystery and deep character exploration. Borgos expertly weaves suspense with poignant moments of introspection making this book through pricking and unputdownable. This is. Amidst read for fans of a character driven thriller.