The Ranger by Ace Atkins (English) Paperback Book

Description: The Ranger by Ace Atkins From an acclaimed, award-winning author comes an extraordinary new series about a real hero, and the real Deep South. "With terrific, inflected characters, and a dark, subtle sense of place and history, "The Ranger" is an exceptional novel."--John Sandford. FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description THE FIRST NOVEL IN ACE ATKINS NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING QUINN COLSON SERIES."In Quinn Colson, bestselling author Ace Atkins has created an American hero in a time when we need him."—C. J. Box After years of war, Army Ranger Quinn Colson returns home to the rugged, rough hill country of northeast Mississippi to find his native Tibbehah County overrun with corruption, decay, meth runners, and violence. His uncle, the longtime county sheriff, is dead. A suicide, hes told, but others—like tomboy deputy Lillie Virgil—whisper murder. In the days that follow, its up to Colson to discover the truth, not only about his uncle, but about his family, his friends, his town, and himself. And once its discovered, theres no going back for this real hero of the Deep South. Author Biography Ace Atkins is the New York Times bestselling author of the Quinn Colson novels, the first two of which—The Ranger and The Lost Ones—were nominated for the Edgar Award for Best Novel (he also has a third Edgar nomination for his short story, "Last Fair Deal Gone Down"). In addition, he is the author of several New York Times bestselling novels in the continuation of Robert B. Parkers Spenser series. Before turning to fiction, he was a correspondent for the St. Petersburg Times, a crime reporter for the Tampa Tribune, and, in college, played defensive end for the undefeated Auburn University football team (for which he was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated). He lives in Oxford, Mississippi. Review Praise for The Ranger"I have always been impressed with (jealous of) how easy Ace Atkins makes it look. The Ranger is by far his best work...I hope Quinn Colson and Lillie Virgil stick around for a good long time."—Michael Connelly"Atkins has written a bunch of great thrillers, but this one sets up a series that should push him to the top of the bestseller list."—John Sandford"Goes for extreme thrills, complemented by in-depth character studies and a view to the motives that turn ordinary people corrupt. Lee Childs Jack Reacher and Greg Iless Penn Cage will find a kindred spirit in U.S. Army Ranger Quinn Colson, Atkinss new take-charge hero."—South Florida Sun-Sentinel"A dark, headlong crime story set in the Mississippi hill country and teeming with corrupt officials, murderous meth dealers and Southern femmes fatales."—St. Petersburg Times"Southern-fried noir."—The Washington Post"Has the down-and-dirty vibe of a 70s drive-in action picture."—Dallas Morning News "[His] estimable ranger may bring to mind Lee Childs hard fisted, soft hearted Jack Reacher, which is entirely a good thing."—Kirkus Reviews "Give this one to Stephen Hunter fans who like fast-moving plots and decisive good guys facing down evil."—Library Journal "Atkins kicks off a new series with a solid action packed yarn...Greg Iles fans will find much to like."—Publishers WeeklyMore Praise For Ace Atkinss Quinn Colson Series"In Quinn Colson, bestselling author Ace Atkins has created an American hero in a time when we need him."—C. J. Box "Ace Atkinss Quinn Colson series is, quite simply, the best in crime fiction today—and also so much more. With a rich cast of characters, and a hero we can count on, these are tales of morality and desperation, of shocking violence and the enduring resilience of family and community. And the emotional places they take us make them unforgettable."—Megan Abbott "Quinn Colson is my kind of guy. I would follow him anywhere."—Lee Child "Atkins finds his natural-born storytellers everywhere. Its all music to these ears."—Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review Review Quote Praise for The Ranger "I have always been impressed with (jealous of) how easy Ace Atkins makes it look. The Ranger is by far his best work...I hope Quinn Colson and Lillie Virgil stick around for a good long time."--Michael Connelly "Atkins has written a bunch of great thrillers, but this one sets up a series that should push him to the top of the bestseller list."--John Sandford "Has the down-and-dirty vibe of a 70s drive-in action picture."--Dallas Morning News "[His] estimable ranger may bring to mind Lee Childs hard fisted, soft hearted Jack Reacher, which is entirely a good thing."-- Kirkus Reviews "Give this one to Stephen Hunter fans who like fast-moving plots and decisive good guys facing down evil."-- Library Journal "Atkins kicks off a new series with a solid action packed yarn...Greg Iles fans will find much to like."-- Publishers Weekly More Praise For Ace Atkinss Quinn Colson Series "In Quinn Colson, bestselling author Ace Atkins has created an American hero in a time when we need him."--C. J. Box "Ace Atkinss Quinn Colson series is, quite simply, the best in crime fiction today--and also so much more. With a rich cast of characters, and a hero we can count on, these are tales of morality and desperation, of shocking violence and the enduring resilience of family and community. And the emotional places they take us make them unforgettable."--Megan Abbott "Quinn Colson is my kind of guy. I would follow him anywhere."--Lee Child "Atkins finds his natural-born storytellers everywhere. Its all music to these ears."--Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review Excerpt from Book 1 Quinn headed home, south on the Mississippi highway, in a truck hed bought in Phenix City, Alabama, for fifteen hundred, a U.S. Army rucksack beside him stuffed with enough clothes for the week and a sweet Colt .44 Anaconda hed won in a poker game. He carried good rock n roll and classic country, and photos from his last deployment in Afghanistan, pics of him with his Ranger platoon, the camp monkey "Streak" on his shoulder, Black Hawks at sundown over the mountains. Things you bring back home after six years away, from 3rd Battalion Headquarters at Fort Benning to Iraq to Afghanistan and back again, when you didnt really intend to return home so fast, if at all. He drove south on Highway 7 and then down 9W, and kept heading south into the winding hill country that had been logged down to nothing decades ago, leaving the people scrub pines and junk trees and squashed beer cans and bottles. This part of the state had always seemed used up to him as a kid, and it looked just as used up in the headlight glow of the truck. He was headed back down to Jericho at midnight, not wanting to see a damn soul till the funeral tomorrow. He figured nobody plans being away for that long, but when you join up at eighteen and earn your tab just before September 11th, a soldier can keep pretty damn busy. He tried to recall the last time hed seen his mother (not caring if he ever saw his father again), and wondered about his sister who hadnt called him in two Christmases. At home there was an ex-girlfriend whod dumped him not long after basic and good friends he hadnt spoken to in years. He turned up the radio, a Johnny Cash version of a classic Western ballad. Quinn knew the song by heart but loved hearing it every time. The old truck ran at seventy on a steady ribbon of blacktop unfolding from hill to hill, a path cut through endless forest that once had been traveled by horse and wagon, Tibbehah County being one of the most remote counties in North Mississippi. After years of marching and maneuvers, sitting still seemed odd to him, although at rest he could fall asleep at will and wake up just as fast. The Regiment had whittled him down to a wiry, muscular frame built for speed, surprise, chaos, and violence. His hair was cut in the standard high and tight, not even an inch thick on top and shaved on the sides, making his face seem even more chiseled in the rearview mirror, sharp angles thanks to a Choctaw grandmother about a hundred years back mixed with the hard Scotch-Irish who settled the South. The trucks heater was cranked, and Quinn, his hand on the wheel, sat comfortably in a black Tshirt, blue jeans, and cowboy boots. In the ashtray he kept a half of a dead cigar that hed smoked about a hundred miles back with some bad coffee. The trip was only five hours, but it was a hell of a long time alone with your thoughts. Another bend, another curve on the highway, and there was a speck in the light. He touched the brakes--finding them a lot less tight than the salesman had promised--thinking the speck was a spooked deer or a dog but then seeing it was the bare back of a woman, turning on long spindly legs and caught in his high beams. He shanked the steering wheel to the right, the truck coming within an arms reach of the hair rushing across her blank face. He was in a ditch and stuck, back wheels spinning into mud. Quinn got out and tromped over to the girl, still standing there on the double yellow line, her breath audible against the quiet of the motor and hot ticking of the engine. There were cows calling from someplace across a barbed-wire fence, and a train whistled far off. A lonesome midnight moon glowed, and Quinn called to the girl, just spotting a logging truck cresting the hill. He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the shoulder, finding her face in his trucks headlight. "You okay?" She nodded. "What the hell you doing in the middle of the road?" "I didnt see you." "You didnt hear my truck?" She didnt say anything. "Shit, I about killed you." The girl wore cowboy boots, a miniskirt, and a sequined halter top busting at the stomach. The girl, maybe eighteen or nineteen or sixteen, was blond and light-eyed. She had tight curly hair, a small upturned nose, and was well on her way with child. "You from here?" he asked. She shook her head, breath clouding in the cold. "Id give you a ride, but--" She said it didnt matter and turned away, and kept walking south. Quinn hopped back in the truck and cranked the ignition, the F-150 older than him kicking to life, and he knocked it in four-wheel drive just for the hell of it, thinking hed never get out of that ravine. But the tires spun, and it lurched forward a foot and then five feet, and he was back on the road, following the girl. He let down his side window, slowly, and told her to get in. She stopped and didnt say a word. She just stood there, back roads leading nowhere all around, with nothing on her, nothing to her, and then she climbed inside the cab. Quinn accelerated fast in case she decided to change her mind. "Headed down to Tibbehah County," he said. "Jericho." He didnt realize hed left the radio on, catching a staticky local station. A talk-radio-show host offering his views at the decline of American morals and the nearing of the End Times. "How old are you?" he asked. "How old are you?" she asked. "Twenty-nine." "You look a lot older." Quinn and the girl didnt speak for nearly fifteen miles. "You can let me out here," she said. "Nothing here." "I can walk." "Where you from?" Quinn asked, keeping the same speed. "Alabama." "You walked from Alabama?" "Its a fur piece," she said, staring straight ahead. " Specially in those boots." "You from Jericho?" "Grew up there." "You know a man named Jody?" "Havent been home in some time," Quinn said. "Whats his last name?" The girl didnt say anything. She just stared out at the headlights hitting the ten feet of darkness ahead of them, not much to see along the road but trailers perched on some cleared land and homemade signs offering fresh vegetables, although the season had passed months ago. The nights had turned chilly; past cotton harvesttime. "What youre doin is dangerous," Quinn said. "Thanks for your concern." "Just tryin to help." "Why are you going back?" "Its time." "How long you been gone?" she asked. "Six years and a few months." "You do something bad?" "Why would you ask that?" Quinn asked, a little edge in his voice. "Just trying to talk." "You have money?" "You can let me off in town." "You have people?" "Jody," the girl said, not sounding too excited about the prospect. "The boy without a last name." She stayed silent and leaned her head against the window glass, a few stray cars passing, high beams dimming over the crests of hills, all the way till they reached the Tibbehah County line, the road sign spray-painted over with the words AINT NO HOPE. Quinn recognized some things, Varners Quick Mart, the small high school stadium where hed played football long after theyd been state champs in 78, JTs Garage--but JTs looked like itd shut down a while back. The downtown movie theater where hed seen Fievel Goes West with his kid sister had been turned into a church. He passed the town cemetery where hed probably be buried alongside both sets of grandparents and a few kin beyond that, and then they were circling the town Square. A small gazebo stood in the center as a monument to all the boys whod been killed in action since the Civil War. "Is this all there is?" the girl asked. "Pretty much," Quinn said. "Can I get you a place to stay?" "Ill make my own way, thank you." "Some churches and places might could help. Hey, look, theres a motel right across the railroad tracks over there. Ill pay for your room tonight and then you can make your way fresh in the morning. I have to check in, too." "I know that song," she said, turning to look at his face. "Im not shy," he said. "But I draw the line at pregnant teens." She didnt say anything. He gunned the motor and crossed over the tracks, circling down into the Travelers Rest, an old U-shaped motel where the units faced outward to the highway. Quinn remembered it used to be thirty bucks a night back when the couples needed to be alone at prom time. Now they advertised bass fishing in their pond and free Wi-Fi. You used to could drive past this place at midnight and know which girls had finally given in to their boyfriends or who was stepping out. Quinn grabbed his bag, paid for the rooms, and tossed the girl her key. "Good luck," he sa Details ISBN042524749X Author Ace Atkins Short Title RANGER Language English ISBN-10 042524749X ISBN-13 9780425247495 Media Book Format Paperback DEWEY FIC Residence Tampa, FL Year 2012 Publication Date 2012-05-01 Series Number 1 Place of Publication New York, NY Country of Publication United States AU Release Date 2012-05-01 NZ Release Date 2012-05-01 US Release Date 2012-05-01 UK Release Date 2012-05-01 Pages 368 Publisher Penguin Putnam Inc Series A Quinn Colson Novel Imprint Penguin USA Audience General We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:44160629;

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