The Big Thaw - Softcover

Donald Harstad

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1841153958 ISBN 13: 9781841153957

Publisher: Fourth Estate Paperbacks, 2001

Synopsis

What initally looks like a small time midwinter break-in, leads to something much bigger -- a million dollar siege of a floating casino on the frozen Mississippi River. But the temperature is rising and the heat is on Deputy Sheriff Carl Houseman...It is 30 below zero in the heartland of Iowa. the Mississippi river is frozen solid and with it, the Colonel Beauregard - a floating casino. Carl Houseman comes upon Fred, a petty crook, one night. A few break-ins have been reported and Fred confesses that he's involved. But now he's worried: he dropped his cousins off to rob the house a few days ago and they never came out ...There are few clues to reveal what happened but Carl realises more than murder is at stake. Soon he and his partner Hester Gorse are fighting for their lives as a million-dollar seige of the casino is threatened.

About this title

Review

Don't let the title of this dry suspense novel fool you. It's very cold in January in Iowa, the setting for Donald Harstad's third outing in his series featuring Deputy Sheriff Carl Houseman and his partner Hester Gorse. The only thing mild is the humor in this spare procedural, which involves the usual turf battle between the white hats (local law enforcement) and the black hats (the FBI) as a sidebar to the main plot. Instead of the mean streets and criminal underclass of urban thrillers, we get the militant extremists who frequent the vast, empty reaches of the Midwest. In this case, the black hats are onto the crazies, and the local good guy, Deputy Carl, is caught in the crossfire. The crazies want enough money to blow the heartland (who wouldn't, in January?), and to get it, they're prepared to blow up Iowa's biggest economic asset, a riverboat casino on the Mississippi. They're being manipulated by a chief crazy (or maybe an arch crazy) named Gabriel, and (naturally) the feds have been a few steps behind Gabriel for a while now. Deputy Carl is a nice guy, but irony is not his strong suit, and he's not particularly fast on the uptake, either. Eventually he does save the day in this somewhat pedestrian and slow-motion regional mystery. If you liked the movie Fargo, you'll love The Big Thaw. --Jane Adams

From the Back Cover

Praise for Known Dead:

"[Harstad] knows his territory, and his description of it is gritty and realistic--a sophisticated, funny and diverting book."
--New York Times

"This fine novel instantly propels him into the top ranks of mystery writers." --Booklist

"Crackles with the electricity of an adrenaline-laced shoot-out."
--Denver Post

"A series to watch."
--Cleveland Plain Dealer
Praise for Eleven Days:

"A hell of a first novel. Donald Harstad has created a gripping and unsettling work that underscores the simple truth that the threat of evil and its violence is everywhere in America--even the farmlands of Iowa. Harstad seasons the book with a wonderful cast of characters and his insider's knowledge. His is a welcome new voice in crime fiction."
--Michael Connelly

"[Eleven Days] is a winner. Without pretension, full of the lives of small-town cops, so authentic you can all but hear the crackle in the two-way radios. And it's funny, too. Read it--it's a hot book."
--Thomas Gifford

"The kind of book that you start and finish in one late-night sitting."
--Sunday Express

"A major achievement and thriller debut by an ex-cop; a novel that smells and feels right."
--Time Out

"Eleven Days satisfies on every level--With one startling twist after another, this grisly but cunningly sophisticated story is truly frightening--A debut spellbinder."
--San Francisco Chronicle

About this edition

• Publisher: Fourth Estate Paperbacks
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 1841153958
• ISBN 13: 9781841153957
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368