TRIBES

An ex-con and his well-armed pals face a murderous band of bigots in Clarkson’s crime novel.

James Beck’s quiet drink at a local watering hole in upstate New York doesn’t last long. He doesn’t mind electrician Irene Allen striking up a conversation until a thug assaults her after overhearing her snide remarks. The well-muscled Beck skillfully wallops the man, who unfortunately belongs to the Kin, a vicious gang of white supremacists. They don’t take kindly to the scuffle and most definitely won’t stand for it when a high-ranking Kin member turns up the next morning with his throat slashed; the gang quickly blames Beck and Irene for the murder and seeks bloody retribution. So, Beck calls in a few friends—men good with fists and weapons. While they’re initially on the defensive, Beck’s group starts digging into the Kin. They learn everything they can to protect themselves, or, if need be, to obliterate the gang entirely. This novel, the fourth in a Beck-centric series, runs full tilt: Beck finds trouble in no time, igniting the subsequent conflagration of action and suspense. Although Beck and his friends are unquestionably dependable, there’s not much character development among the hefty cast. Kin hooligans sometimes spit racist slurs, but their racist ideology is just a ready-made device to make them easy to despise (“We are the rightful leaders of this world we live in. Always have been. Always will be. It’s our God-given right. We didn’t choose it. It chose us”). However, certain characters, Irene among them, harbor surprising secrets. The author excels at detailing the copious battles, whether Beck finds himself engaged in hand-to-hand combat or immersed in a blistering gunfight. Clarkson likewise delivers moments rife with tension, from Beck’s group covertly tracking baddies to a nerve-racking scene of someone returning home where a killer lies in wait.

A taut, fast-paced thriller that never slows down.