Burrows

A Red River Mystery

De: Reavis Z. Wortham

Narrado por: Traber Burns

Lyndon B. Johnson is president, Beatlemania is in overdrive, and gasoline costs 30 cents a gallon when Ned Parker retires as constable in Center Springs, Texas. But his plan to live a quiet life as a cotton farmer is torpedoed. A phone call leads Ned to a body in the Red River and into the urgent investigation headed by his nephew, the newly elected constable Cody Parker. Together they work to head off a multistate killing spree that sets northeast Texas on fire.

As the weeks pass, Ned’s grandchildren, ten-year-old Top and his tomboy cousin Pepper, struggle with personal issues resulting from their traumatic experiences at the Rock Hole only months before. They now find themselves in the middle of a nightmare for which no one can be prepared.

Cody and Deputy John Washington, the law south of the tracks, follow a lead from their small community to the long-abandoned Cotton Exchange warehouse in Chisum, which they are stunned to find packed full of the town’s cast-off garbage and riddled with booby-trapped passageways and dark burrows. Despite Ned’s warnings, Cody enters the building and finds himself relying on his recent military experiences to save both himself and Big John. Unfortunately, the trail doesn’t end there, and the killing spree continues.

Reavis Z. Wortham is an author, humor editor, and frequent contributor to Texas Fish & Game magazine. His work has also appeared in American Cowboy, Texas Sporting Journal, and other magazines. He is the author The Rock Hole, named one of Kirkus Reviews’ Best Mystery Books of 2011.

©2012 Reavis Z. Wortham (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Outstanding…Wortham combines the gonzo sensibility of Joe R. Lansdale and the elegiac mood of To Kill a Mockingbird to strike just the right balance between childhood innocence and adult horror.” ( Publishers Weekly)

“With atmosphere so thick you can breathe it, and characters so real you can touch them, Reavis Z. Wortham’s Burrows is a book worth putting all others aside to read. Clear a space on your bookshelves, folks, because the real deal has arrived.” (John Gilstrap, author of Threat Warning and Damage Control)

“In Burrows, Reavis Wortham juxtaposes gruesome crimes with a bucolic '60s landscape. It’s a surprisingly intense combination that kept me awake nights after not being able to put the book down. Wortham’s writing makes scenes and characters come to life.” (Charlotte Rains Dixon, author of Emma Jean’s Bad Behavior and director emeritus of the Writer’s Loft)

Twisted, love it.

Many twists that keep you wondering what is next. look forward to Top's next adventure.

Not bad but...

Reavis Wortham is a craftsman, especially in action scenes. He has a sense of Dixie culture that's neither condescending (read Scott Thurow) nor exploitative (read John Grisham). Nor is he a tiresome proselytizer for progressive politics (read James Lee Burke). Oh he has The Noble Black Man, but also entire groups of noble white men... and women.

I like complexity and nuance. What I didn't like was the inexplicable(and interminable) burrowing which subjected two of his heroes to endless risk. Why they didn't just wait till morning and a crane I cannot imagine.... Nor could Wortham.

It helps this book that Traber Burns' tongue is sautéed in dead-on Dixie-country.

I wish that "Burrows" had been tightly edited but then it would have been too short. In this book Wortham is better at writing than at plotting. Still, I think I may get another Reavis Z. Wortham to hear how this guy's plotting grows.

Great Mystery Adventure

This is the second book in this great series. I forgot how much I liked these characters until I got back into this one.

It's the 60's in a small town in North Texas and the whole town is terrified of a killer who is cutting people's heads off. The young, newly promoted Constable is in a bit over his head so his Uncle, the recently retired Constable is called back in to help along side he and the local Sheriff. This mystery is a strange one that delves deep into the compulsive behavior of an unbelievable hoarder. Cody, the new Constable and John, one of his men, must start on a treacherous journey through a warehouse where a hoarder has been living for years. Cody was a "tunnel rat" in the Vietcong War but even he is amazed and frightened by not only the sheer volume but also by the mindset of a person who could build this gruesome, boobie trapped maze.

All the regulars are back and of corse our cantankerous Pepper and Top are smack dab in the middle of where they should not be. A fast paced well rounded mystery with a group of characters that I am looking forward to reading more about.

Love it!

Great storyline by Mr. Wortham and excellent performance by Mr. Burns. Small Texas town constable doing a big city job. Love the family interaction between the lead character & his young grandchildren. There are a few cuss words and violence as they solve the crimes. Nothing over the top and no sex scenes.

Amazing plot for serial killer fans

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This is a simply fantastic plot - one of my two favorites that I read in 2015. Mr. Wortham writes lovely Texas/Oklahoma characters from the 60s but his books are far from cozy. The scenario he set up really sparked my imagination. And the first scene surprised the hell out of me. I thought it was really well done. Love this book.

What other book might you compare Burrows to and why?

He's a little, but not much, like James Lee Burke. Probably more like Stephen King. But really like neither.

Have you listened to any of Traber Burns’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

He reads well.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It made me feel nostalgic and sometimes cry but most of all it made me go "ooooohhh".

Not as good as book 1 but gave it a shot

One this that really bothers me, this book turns Cody ex military super hero into a babbling scaredy cat. This good had potential but the cotton mill portion went on and on and on. I'm going to try book 3 but it might be a poor decision on my part. Narrator Burns did a great job. Perfect for the story.

good book

very interestig page yurner!!!!!! . awaitl the rest of boiks in seies a great narrator

Burrows

Loving these stories set on the Tx/Ok border. They remind me of my childhood growing up on the Double Mountain Fork of the Brazos.
The writing/story is reminiscent of Larry McMurtry, who was my dad's very favorite author and whom I came to love and admire, as well.
Cannot wait to listen to the next novel!

not as good as the first book but still decent

Certain parts felt like the author needed to meet a word count quota. I also generally dont like when an author has an otherwise intelligent character do stupid things just to progress the story. Still a decent book though and I will probably buy the next one.

The narrator is really good and makes what may have been an uneven book worth finishing.

Strange Twist to a good story

Cody Parker maybe the elected constable of Center Springs, Texas, but it's still Ned, Cody's father, who gets the largest percentage of calls. So, it's Ned they call when a body is pulled from the nearby river. A headless body. It isn't long before the corpse is identified as an inmate from the nervous house. One of three who have killed their way across the Midwest.

Now it seems they're in Chisholm. One of them, at least. Kendall Boden, and he isn't done with what he started.

These stories are written in such a way that we're seeing much of it through the eyes of Top, Ned's grandson, as if we're hearing it told at a much later date. There is a nostalgic atmosphere to the story, event though its a murder mystery. Much different than a police procedural, much of the mid to late 60's and the rural culture of Texas family shines through.

They couldn't have chosen a better narrator for these, and it was the narration that got me through Cody and John tunneling through that house of horrors. That part could have been shorter IMO. Burrows is book two of the Red River series. I will be reading on.