My Rating: 
Author: Reavis Z. Wortham
Narrator: Traber Burns
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
Publisher’s Summary: 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 inAmerican 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.
My Review:
Reavis Wortham has a way of transporting the reader back in time. The pace of his novels is deceptively laid back and relaxing until you stumble upon a horrific murder scene. The atmosphere seems too beautiful at times to be marred by all the blood and death that seems to revolve around the small town of Center Springs, Texas.
Burrows picks up where Rock Hole left off. (See my review of Rock Hole.) The familiar characters and setting of this novel is comforting. Characters like Ned Parker, Top, Pepper and Big John are back and again seem to be so well developed that you are reluctant to see the book come to an end.
Burrrows is a little different than Rock Hole in that you know exactly who the murderer is from the very beginning. Even though we know the identity of the killer we don’t know what is motivating him, who he will kill next or where the heck he is hiding. That is where Ned & Cody Parker come into play. Their no nonsense approach to police work will have them hot on the trail.
Audio Production: Traber Burns was excellent once again. He had surprised me with his skills in Rock Hole so I had high expectations for a great listening experience in Burrows. He did not disappoint.
Overall: Burrows is an excellent thriller that is equal parts nostalgic and suspenseful. Well worth the time to listen though I would highly recommend that you start with the first Red River novel Rock Hole.
Get your copy of Burrows today
