A Promise to Kill by Erik Storey

A Promise to Kill is the second Clyde Barr novel by Erik Storey and is turning into one of the best new thriller series of the last few years. Clyde Barr is a low-tech loner whose skills have been honed in hotspots around the world, from Africa to South America to Mexican prisons. He finds himself drifting across the mountains and remote areas of the Western United States when he stumbles across an old man, Bud Nicholas, who has had a heart attack in a remote area of the Ute reservation in Utah. Driving into town and seeking help, he encounters a bar full of Reapers; an outlaw biker gang that is menacing the town and not looking to help anyone.

Clyde eventually manages to get the old man help, befriending his grandson and daughter Lawana-a local doctor-in the process. Clyde offers to help out out on Bud’s ranch until he’s back on his feet. He can’t help but wonder what the Reapers are doing hanging around such a remote area. The native Utes have little faith that authorities will help them with their Reaper problem so are doing their best to wait it out. Clyde tries to respect their wishes, but when the Reapers go too far, he takes action. In the process, Clyde discovers the real reason the Reapers are hanging around. The gang represents a danger to the entire town, and perhaps far beyond.

A Promise to Kill has the feel of an old-fashioned western brought into the 21st century. Clyde Barr is the drifter passing through, gets caught up in the troubles of the locals and stands with them against the bad guys. The remote setting on the Ute reservation lends to the sense of isolation and danger. The native Utes history with local and federal law enforcement lends credibility to the ethos that they have no one to count on but themselves. The plot that the Reapers have hatched raises the stakes even further making Clyde’s success truly a matter of life and death.

Clyde Barr is a great character whose development in this second novel raises him even higher in the pantheon of great action characters. The surrounding cast is what elevates this book and makes it one of the best thrillers of the year. Lawana is strong-willed and accomplished, her teenage son is earnest and endearing, and the members of the small town of Wakara are varied and believable. The Reapers are truly menacing. They are three-dimensional characters who act mostly intelligently, which makes them a worthy foil for Barr.

Storey paints a vivid picture of the modern American West, fills it with both great and menacing characters and adds a plot that moves like a lit fuse heading toward dynamite. Get in on the ground floor of this great series. Highly recommended.

I was assured by Erik Storey that narrator Pete Simonelli absolutely nailed it with this book and he was right. Simonelli captures the quiet confidence of Clyde Barr and the absolute menace of members of the Reapers. His pacing is perfect and his reverence for the description of the setting absolutely gives you a sense of place. Storey’s words and Simonelli’s voice are a perfect pairing and I hope to see them together again for the next book-and you should too. This is a great book to experience on audio.

I was fortunate to be provided a copy of this audiobook by the publisher.

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