My thoughts:
This book has an interesting setting in Nevada’s wild horse country. It could be a place of peaceful nature but that is certainly not the case here. Protagonist, Porter Beck, instead has a lot on his hands. There are murder, the horses, Covid, a group of troubled kids and Porter’s personal relationships all appearing in these pages. It makes for a most interesting and complex read.
I think that those who enjoy Paul Doiron’s Mike Bowditch series will want to give this title a look. Both have strong male leads who know nature.
Note that The Horse is the third in a series. The first two titles are The Bitter Past and Shades of Mercy. However, I think that this book can be read without knowledge of the previous titles. Readers may well want to go back to them though.
Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press-Minotaur Books for this title. All opinions are my own.
Pub date: 08 July 2025
Post first written on 28 November 2025
About the book:
from the publisher
An USA Today bestseller!
A controversial wild horse round-up in the high desert of Nevada results in two murders and too many suspects for Sheriff Porter Beck to deal with.
A helicopter driving a controversial round-up of wild horses suddenly crashes and the pilot is found to have been shot. Then the person coordinating the round-up for the Bureau of Land Management is savagely murdered, buried up to her neck and then trampled to death by the very same wild horses. And there’s no lack of suspects—with the wild horse advocacy group having sworn to protect the horse At Any Cost! Now the state and federal agencies are showing up looking for answers or at least a scapegoat.
Sheriff Porter Beck has had better days.
Porter Beck’s new girlfriend, Detective Charlie Blue Horse, arrives to help with the investigation, which leads them to Canadian Lithium mining operation near the round-up area that sets off Beck’s mental alarm bells. Brinley, Beck’s sister, is leading a group of troubled kids in a wilderness program, when one of them, Rafa, bolts one night. When Brinley catches up to him, they’re just outside the mine—in the wrong place, at the wrong time.
With his personal life in turmoil, too many suspects and too many secrets, the feds pushing for a quick resolution, and his impetuous (if skilled) sister in the mix, one wrong step could be deadly for Porter Beck.
About the Author
from Amazon
BRUCE BORGOS lives and writes from the Nevada desert where he works hard every day to prove his high school guidance counselor had good instincts when he said “You’ll never be an astronaut.” He has a degree in political science which mostly served to dissuade him from a career in law while at the same time tormenting his wife with endless questions about how telephones work. When not writing, you can usually find him at the local wine store.
“A solid, action-packed police procedural… similar to the work of C.J. Box and Craig Johnson.” ―Library Journal
Joyce's mystery and fiction book reviews with some non-fiction too! 