Children of the Valley by Castle Freeman

Sheriff Lucian Wing goes to the aid of a pair of young runaways, Duncan and Pamela, who have fled to his backwoods county jurisdiction in Vermont. The girl’s powerful stepfather New York has set a smoothly menacing lawyer and well-armed thugs on their trail.

At the same time Wing must deal with his wayward wife’s chronic infidelity; the snobbery of Pamela’s cosmopolitan mother; the dubious assistance of a demented World War Two enthusiast – and the climactic, chaotic onset of a prodigious specimen of the local wildlife.

Amidst it all, can Wing bring Duncan and Pamela to safety?

Author Bio:

Castle Freeman is the author of seven novels, including the critically acclaimed Go With Me, which has been made into a film starring Anthony Hopkins, as well as two short-story collections. He has lived in rural Vermont since 1975.

Review

‘Children of the Valley’ is a quick enthralling thriller, is fast paced, quick witted, has great characters and is definitely a page turner. I actually read it in one sitting I was that absorbed with the plot.

This is third book of a series that concentrates on Sheriff Lucian Wing, set in rural Vermont, but this can definitely been read as a stand-alone. I haven’t read the rest of the series but I will be putting them on my tbr pile as I loved the simplicity, loyalty and love that ran through this book.

Lucian is visited by a hotshot lawyer Carl Armentrout who is looking for his boss’s daughter Pamela who has gone missing. But why would she have come to rural Vermont to hide? A local boy of course, Duncan, who also went to her school. Who’s interests is Lucian going to protect, the runaways or the stepfathers Rex Lord? Do we have to answer this since Lucian has a core of what’s right and what’s wrong and he soon sniffs out who is in the right here. Although, there are a few nuggets of wisdom that come from his wife as well!

This is a great example of an American Sheriff thriller but it’s the character of Lucien that makes this book. He is the epitome of what people think makes an excellent Sheriff in literature. A strong moral code, some problems rumbling in the background, likes to solve problems with diplomacy rather than violence and is just a generally nice chap. Read this book / series for this character alone. You won’t regret it.