Book Reviews
Rinn’s Crossing: An Alaska Thriller
by Russell Heath
It didn’t work out as Rinn had planned. He destroyed some trucks and front-end loaders at a logging camp and his former sweetie was charged with the crime–and a murder that happened that same night in the same camp. If Rinn confesses to the sabotage to clear his sweetie, Kit, he will be nailed for the murder. No cop is going to buy his story that someone else killed the Tlingit elder.
Rinn can let Kit take the rap—or he can grow old in a lonely prison cell.
At the same time she’s fighting the murder charge, Kit desperately launches a scorched earth battle to save Alaska’s ancient forests. She’s losing. The only way she can win is to betray her secret lover, Dan, a Tlingit Native. Dan switched sides betting he could get what had been promised to his people a generation ago. But Dan took a step too far. If he wins for his people, he loses everything.
“One of the 100 Best Indie Books of 2020” —Kirkus Review
“A thrilling work of serpentine intrigue and crisp characterization” —Kirkus Review
“Heath’s plotting is taut and propulsive, and the pages seem to fly through your hands.” —Red City Review (5-star review)
“The ending was exceptional and will bring a tear to your eye.” —Readers Favorite (5-star review)
Broken Angels: An Alaska Mystery
by Russell Heath
She stares at her mother’s clumsy lettering on the envelope. Nine years. Nine years since she stepped over her mother’s drunken body and into a cold Alaska night running south, leaving her mother forever. How did she find me? She hesitates, knowing the letter inside will drag her home; back into the bleakness of a life with no exit. Kris Gabriel, Alaska Native, and fierce like a wolverine, returns to Alaska—to find her mother murdered. Guilty she abandoned her in life, Kris only knows to fight. Relentlessly, she tracks a trail of pain, of lost love, of lives ripped apart by the frozen north’s unyielding laws, never suspecting that she has far more at stake than just finding her mother’s killer.
Broken Angels is a fast-paced Alaskan noir filled with richly drawn characters struggling to survive in a hostile country where there are no second chances.
“Heath’s debut novel is gripping from the get-go.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Alaska is almost a character all on its own: beautiful, unpredictable, violent, and unforgiving. Broken Angels is a compelling debut by a talented new writer.” —Elaine Ford, winner of the Michigan Literary Award.
“This book was amazing, just as Burke brings New Orleans to life Heath puts Alaska into your soul.” —Judy Smrdel
“Heath has tapped his intimate knowledge of Alaska, its people, its coastal communities and its interior uniqueness and crafted a character-rich, page-turning, murder mystery.” —An Alaskan
No Name Bay: un voyage au cœur de l’Alaska
French Edition by Russell Heath
Mera Éditions (Editor), Anna Durand (Translator)
Un meurtre brutal sur une exploitation forestière, un Sénateur véreux, une conspiration implacable…
Alors que Rinn s’éloigne discrètement des lieux d’un sabotage pour se réfugier dans la forêt, il ignore qu’un homme est sur le point de mourir. Lorsque son ancienne compagne, Kit Olinsky, une militante écologiste, est accusée puis arrêtée pour le meurtre, il découvre que les preuves contre elle sont accablantes. Mais l’incarcération de Kit semble arranger un sénateur local corrompu qui, désormais débarrassé d’elle, peut se tracer un chemin jusqu’au poste de gouverneur. Lorsque celle-ci est libérée sous caution, elle est plus déterminée que jamais à faire tout ce qui est en son pouvoir pour rétablir son nom et arrêter la mécanique implacable et destructrice, qui une fois lancée semble vouloir tout écraser sur son passage. Rongé par la culpabilité d’avoir laissé des preuves l’ayant incriminée, Rinn décide de laisser derrière lui sa vie isolée dans les montagnes pour lui venir en aide. Il est prêt à tout sacrifier pour sauver Kit ; mais, ce qu’elle va lui révéler bouleversera sa vie à jamais.
Ils étaient amis autrefois. Ils se battaient côte à côte pour défendre des causes justes. Depuis, tous les trois ont emprunté des chemins très différents, sans retour en arrière possible. Et lorsqu’on a déjà commis le pire, que peut-on craindre d’autre?
Un livre multiprimé aux USA : prix du Readers’ Favorite Book International Award, finaliste du Red City Book Awards, finaliste du Chanticleer International Book Awards.