Hard Town

De: Adam Plantinga

Narrado por: Charles Halford

When a plea for help sends a retired Detroit cop to the small desert town of Fenton, Arizona, he finds himself uncovering secrets that want to stay hidden and questioning his own moral compass in this "gripping, fiercely propulsive, and vividly written" thriller (Meg Gardiner).

After surviving a deadly prison break, ex-Detroit cop Kurt Argento is ready for some quiet. Still working through his grief over the passing of his wife, Argento finds himself house-sitting for a friend with his loyal companion, Hudson, a Chow Chow-Shepard mix. It's a simple life, picking up odd jobs here and there, but it's one that Argento is content to live. Then Kristin Reed shows up with her young son, Ethan, and begs Argento to help find her missing husband.

Argento tells her he'd just be in the way. He's no investigator, not anymore. He's a handyman who fixes fences. But he's not one to ignore his gut feeling when something is wrong. After Kristin and her son disappear as well, Argento starts to notice that Fenton, Arizona is more than meets the eye. First there's the large, overly equipped public safety team complete with specialized tactics and sophisticated weaponry. Then there's the unusual financial boosting of failing small businesses by the U.S. government. And finally, there's a man with no name who seems to have an unprecedented control over the town. Argento finds himself unraveling not just the truth behind the disappearance of a family, but a conspiracy that's taken a whole town to cover up.

But Fenton is going to push him further than he’s ever had to go. And along the way, he may just lose a part of himself. Because justice isn't as black and white as Argento would like to believe.

Reseñas de la Crítica

PRAISE FOR THE ASCENT

Hard town

Excellent book, characters are amazing and story keeps you glued. Will be a movie soon for sure!

Great writing

A wonderful story. I found myself wanting to sit down and read more. Can’t wait for the next Argento story to come out.

Violent, predictable and felt like it was made to be a movie script

Difficult to express my reaction to this book. It seemed to be shooting (pun intended) to express the worst human behaviors possible. Sad thing is, when you get this, it’s predictable and loses the mystery.

As good as previous

He didn’t phone it in.
As good as The Ascent.
Looking forward to many more by the author.

EXCELLENT

I loved it! I can’t wait to listen to where he goes with the next book. The narrator was excellent also.

Well that was depressing

The ending left one depressed. Not sure if the good guy won. Not an uplifting story.

Hard Town? Yeah, wow.

Adam Plantinga has created an imperfect hero in Kurt Argento who you’ll want to see win. Plantinga brings authenticity to this story, but be prepared. They should call it Hard Man.

Hard Town, 2nd Argento Book

Hard Town is an action packed novel that will keep you guessing and won't let you stop reading (or listening). In my opinion, Adam Plantinga is a notch closer to Michael Connelly type masterpieces. Can't wait for Book 3. Series? Movie?

Went too hard!

Take the most awful people, doing the most awful things, then have an emotionally stunted hero whose terrible decisions result in the deaths of the only truly good and redeemable characters. One death was particularly unforgivable. That's Hard Town. No textures, no shades of gray, just cruel, depressing actions on the part of the antagonist and the
hero. I enjoyed the Ascent so much. Kurt's pain and actions were understandable. But there were a balance of good and bad characters to give contrast in Ascent. The reader rooted for Kurt in the Ascent, your heart hurt for Kurt in the first book. Not so much in Hard Town. Rather than progress in his character from the first book, he seems to regress. As a reader, that was most disappointing. Highlights were the excellent narrator (his voice captures the deep dark lethality of the MMC so well), and the writing is consistent in quality despite the content.