Bad Axe County

A Novel

By: John Galligan

Narrated by: Samantha Desz

Dennis Lehane meets Megan Miranda in this “dark beauty of a novel” (William Kent Krueger, New York Times bestselling author) about the first female sheriff in rural Bad Axe County, Wisconsin, as she searches for a missing girl, battles local drug dealers, and seeks the truth about the death of her parents twenty years ago—all as a winter storm rages in her embattled community.

Fifteen years ago, Heidi White’s parents were shot to death on their Bad Axe County farm. The police declared it a murder-suicide and closed the case. But that night, Heidi found the one clue she knew could lead to the truth—if only the investigators would listen.

Now Heidi White is Heidi Kick, wife of local baseball legend Harley Kick and mother of three small children. She’s also the interim sheriff in Bad Axe. Half the county wants Heidi elected but the other half will do anything to keep her out of law enforcement. And as a deadly ice storm makes it way to Bad Axe, tensions rise and long-buried secrets climb to the surface.

As freezing rain washes out roads and rivers flood their banks, Heidi finds herself on the trail of a missing teenaged girl. Clues lead her down twisted paths to backwoods stag parties, derelict dairy farms, and the local salvage yard—where the body of a different teenage girl has been carefully hidden for a decade.

As the storm rages on, Heidi realizes that someone is planting clues for her to find, leading her to some unpleasant truths that point to the local baseball team and a legendary game her husband pitched years ago. With a murder to solve, a missing girl to save, and a monster to bring to justice, Heidi is on the cusp of shaking her community to its core—and finding out what really happened the night her parents died.

With “striking prose, engaging characters, and a searing story of crimes rooted in the heartland,” Bad Axe County is a “darkly irresistible thriller” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) that you won’t be able to put down.

Good but won't invest time in future series

Good story, but I won't invest time in future adventures in Bad Axe County. I enjoyed the story, but the characters are so compelling that I'll invest more time in future books in the series.

Wowsa

I was blown away by this book. The grit of the female sheriff. The human trafficking in what appears to be middle America the heartland. Halfway thru I bought book#2. Could not wait for next book.

So believable!

The story is fiction but feels like it was pulled from the headlines.
The narrator just pulls you into the horrible reality of it.

A Great Listen

This book greatly exceeded my expectations; it's multilayered and the narration is superb. I added it to “Favorites,” which is something I rarely do.

Good elements, but often disjointed

2.5 stars

Bad Axe County is a fictional county in the Driftless Area of SW Wisconsin. The protagonist is the acting sheriff of the county and the former Dairy Queen of Wisconsin, whose parents were murdered a decade before this book.

That murder is something of a background plot that runs through the entire book. The foreground plot(s) are harder to articulate. There is corruption, murder, theft, and slavery, all mixed about with no real throughline. This is a reasonable reflection of real life, but not exactly a coherent narrative.

The characters are drawn memorably, and are all flawed. But I don't quite believe in the protagonist. There's just too much tension in strange ways at the core of her personality. There are elements of her portrayal that are sympathetic, but there are elements of completely out-of-control rage that don't seem consistent with her life as a deputy, wife, and mother.

There are definitely elements to like in this book: its portrait of rural criminality rings true and the story flows well. If you're looking for a very dark police procedural with rampant violence, this might be a good choice. But reading the next book in the series won't be a priority for me.

Small Town Mystery

Enjoyed this book! Nice to have a strong female protagonist. The narration was excellent. I will be looking for the next book featuring this small town female sheriff.

very good

this was a good listen. nice suspense and twists in it. loved the story line.

Small Town Crime

Bad Axe County is a good ole boy, small town crime story. But there’s a new interim sheriff in town who is on a quest to not only solve the most recent crime spree that is all wound up into one case but also to find out what really happened to her parents. There are numerous characters in this story which makes it incredibly difficult to keep track of who is doing what and how they are all intertwined until about two thirds of the way through the book. Also, the book just ends. The story has no real ending, no twist, no surprises, other than the author stating what happens or happened in the cases.

Too graphic in details of sexual torture

A woman sheriff in a rough part of the country sounded interesting. Abduction of women and girls and sexual trafficking is something we hear far too much about in the news.

However, the author soon degraded into details about rape and sexual torture until I realized I was reading pornography.

This book is not a mystery. It is not about the first woman sheriff in a male culture. It is about sex trafficking of minors and provides details of torture and sexual brutality that would give ideas to those interested in proceeding.