Twentymile is a striking debut set in the awesome wilderness of Great Smoky Mountains where a tenacious Special Agent with the National Park Service's Investigative Services Branch is hunting down murderers on treacherous ground with tall mountains to climb and freezing streams to cross.
Tsula Walker makes her entry as a bold and formidable protagonist who serves as an incredible inspiration to readers with her bravery and her determination to seek justice without letting raging snowstorms and hails of bullets dissuade her. The dilemmas she faces with her mother and her job create common grounds with the readers to build a rapport with her. Following a strong foundation, the rest of the journey becomes a breeze as Tsula investigates the death of a wildlife biologist in the national park. What starts off seeming like a suicide starts becoming clearer as a covered-up homicide for Tsula to solve.
C. Matthew Smith doesn’t waste a single moment in the pacing as the mystery unravels slowly but surely, switching the POV between a few characters to not only explain the events vividly from different perspectives but also create an attachment to characters of all shades for a multilayered reading experience.
As the main setting is a national park, it would be a travesty if the most important character, Mother Nature, was not given its due diligence. Luckily, that is not the case here as C. Smith writes picturesque descriptions of the park and its furry habitants along with fascinating tidbits that smartly serve the events in the story. The beauty of the setting is its duplicity: a beautiful day in the secluded park in one chapter versus a grim fight to survive in the snow-capped mountains and hills as Tsula is chased by coyotes and hardened killers.
Twentymile is a highly enjoyable read suited best to those who like their thrillers to simmer for awhile before erupting in a blizzard of action and unpredictability with a future promise of grander adventures.
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