Rough Men by Aric Davis

Published by Thomas & Mercer

Will Daniels has fought hard to keep his demons at bay; he’s exchanged a shady past for the love of a woman he doesn’t deserve and the dream of becoming an author, all while trying to save his wayward son, Alex, from the same destructive impulses that nearly doomed him.

But the demons come cackling back in the form of a detective on Will’s doorstep, bearing the news that Alex has been killed in a botched bank robbery. Worse, Alex wasn’t an innocent bystander but part of the gang that raided the vault and left behind numerous bodies.

Simmering with rage over his loss, Will tries to let the police handle the matter. But as Alex’s killers remain at large, Will decides that it’s up to him—and a few old friends—to enact revenge in a most brutal manner.

Now he’s calling on dangerous connections that have been buried for years—and should’ve stayed that way. But Will vows to do whatever it takes to see Alex’s killers repay their sins in blood, even if it means his own damnation.

A while back I was introduced to Aric Davis via his superb novel ‘ A Good and Useful Hurt‘ and now he’s back and he blew me away with more of his great hardboiled Americana style in ‘Rough Men’.

His books are true journeys – doing just what books should do, transporting the reader and the characters through a transition – changing them both through the course of the storytelling – and it’s his skills as a modern storyteller that earn Aric Davis a proud spot on my shelves alongside the two authors I feel he bears the most comparison to; John Rector and Ryan David Jahn.

Read in just two furious reading sessions, Rough Men was a wild, tough and rewarding ride – much like life itself can be.

Seek him out – this author deserves greater recognition and soon.

Keith