Rough Justice by Matt Hilton

‘Now move aside, before somebody gets killed.’

There’s a plane crash in the Great North Woods of Maine, with two lives lost.  The three biologists who report the crash claim that they only saw the two who were killed. But later, one of them is heard talking about a female survivor. Private Investigator Tess Grey is hired to investigate. She and her partner Po Villere head off into the woods, together with their friend, gun-runner Jerome ‘Pinky’ Leclerc.  Pinky is looking to avoid some problems of his own.

What follows is an action-packed, messy series of violent encounters while Tess tries to work out what happened at the crash scene. Messy?  Well, Tess and her team are not the only people headed into the woods.  There’s another group looking for the survivor, and then there are some fairly inept bounty hunters searching for Pinky.  Who is this mysterious survivor, and why are so many people looking for her?  There are a couple of worthy villains and some likeable heroes.

There are a few unexpected twists in the story, and while I wasn’t always completely engaged, I was curious enough to keep reading.  This is the first of Matt Hilton’s novels I’ve read: I suspect it won’t be the last.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Severn House for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith