Riding a Blue Horse

Rating:
Summary: Former CIA officer/special agent right on target
Review: Carter Elliott brings to life the dialect and the folkways of one West Virginia community in this debut crime novel that snakes up snow-covered Sad Mother Mountain and skids down Dumb John's Mountain with page-turning prose skating by faster than a car hitting ice on a hairpin curve.

"Riding a Blue Horse" is the story of 14-year-old (and over the hill) Molly Small -- who's making her way to a West Virginia remote mountain county that headquarters a ring of kiddie-porn operators -- and Molly's unlikely protector, a lumbering, simpleminded 18-year-old the locals have nicknamed "Stupe."

Molly's unexpected appearance in Shawnee turns out to be but the first in a series of unusual events facing God-fearing state trooper Roscoe Bragg and young postal inspector Rens Vandermeer. The day after she arrives, a small private plane crashes into Dumb John's Mountain, leaving the pilot dead, and -- huddled in the snowy wreckage, a terrified, helpless, illegally adopted six-year-old boy. There's more surprises in store when, much to his astonishment, Stupe discovers the heavy leaf bag doesn't contain the dead fawn his daddy said he'd hit and wanted Stupe to bury.

The author knows his stuff: Elliott used to work for the CIA and had a second career in federal law enforcement. The former special agent also holds a Masters degree in clinical psychology, and he puts it all to good use in a poignant, richly layered story that resonates both in the heart and mind.

Rating:
Summary: A very impressive debut
Review: In the backwoods of West Virginia lies the heart of a kiddie porn operation. Into the lazy town of Shawnee drifts fourteen year old Molly Small, a prostitute- spunky, brash and old way beyond her years. She is looking for Turk, the man she wants to live with the rest of her life. She finds instead Stupe, a mentally impaired young man with strong religious convictions at odds with his belief to honor his mother and father. He learns that his father, Shug, runs a kiddie porn network that has harmed and occasionally killed young children. Stupe knows he must eventually stop his father- the question is how to do it and still remain true not only to the Ten Commandments but his new friend Molly. The result leads to an explosive confrontation that rings both tragic and true.
Very very impressive characterizations make this debut effort stand out. No less impressive is the great sense of locale. The remote Appalachian backwoods literally comes alive. There are slight problems with the flow and pacing of the story which appears to run out of steam about thirty pages too early. However, this is a remarkable achievement and well worth the reader's time.

Rating:
Summary: Ready for book II
Review: It's been two weeks since completing the book and I still find myself thinking about each character. Chapter after chapter left me feeling outraged or heartbroken, and brought more than a few chuckles as little Molly's ,less than polished, personality unfolded. The author writes with a vivid and decriptive quailty that brought the good, bad, and ugly events in the mountains of a small town in West Virginia to my nightstand. Molly and Stupe have a long future, and I look forward to a sequel.

Rating:
Summary: Would make a good movie!
Review: Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Very different and well-developed characters, especially Stupe and Molly. I felt like I knew them personally by the end of the book and kind of wanted to know what might become of them.
I loved the descriptions of the locales; they left very vivid pictures in my mind of what this rural area of West Virginia might be like.
I read lots of mystery novels and rank this one pretty high up there, in part because it was a different kind of story line, with unusual main characters. The fact that I can remember characters and the plot several months after reading it is something I can't say for many of the mysteries I read!