272 pages and nothing happens!
The paperwork you sign when you finance a house is more exciting than this book.
Not one character is interesting nor is possible to connect to them or their story.
This is a reoccurring problem with books, these days.
Just because the author had an MFA is not reason enough to publish a book by them.
Absolutely nothing interesting happens in this book.
And why it takes place in the 1970’s is a total mystery, except maybe to add cover to the realization that there is no story, period.
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Pickard County, a rural area of farms and very small towns in Nebraska, is not an easy place to live. Harley Jensen works as a sheriff's deputy, patrolling the lonely rural highways and abandoned farmhouses at night. Pam Reddick, who married and had a child before she was ready, is slowly drowning, isolated in a trailer with a very young child she wishes she wasn't responsible for, as her husband works long hours for far too little money. They're both restless, but what pulls them together is the Reddick family and the tragedy that defines them. When the three Reddick boys were young, the oldest boy disappeared and his body was never found. Harley is haunted by the one case his department never solved and Pam, married to the middle son, lives with the after effects of that event and how it formed her husband.

Set over a few days, this novel explores the tragic roots of old sorrows and how they affect the living. There's a lot of dark roads, messed up families, repressed feelings, drugs and hopelessness in these pages. Everyone knows your family's secrets and are eager to spread word about any bad behavior, distances are measured in how much gas you have left in the tank and a body can lie hidden for decades.

I'm not entirely sure what I think about this one. The imaginary Pickard County is richly imagined, but often described in ways someone without that visual map in their heads had no way of following. The characters were nuanced and vivid and the ending was very well done, but the story was sometimes self-indulgent, like a story turned over a few too many times. Still, I'm always happy to find a new author writing in a noir-like vein and I'll take a look at whatever she writes next. ( )

So many empty houses fill these dusty streets in this small town in Nebraska. People have left, some have died and those that remain harbor unimaginable griefs. Some are living desperate lives that they wish they could escape, some live on the best they are able. Harley, is the law in this town and his past haunts him still, as does the old house where once his family lived. But sometimes there is an event, a spark that sets unforseen things in motion. That's what happens here.

A slow burning rural noir. A first book that is well thought out and brilliantly executed. Things happen that we don't quite understand the significance of, but the tension is there and as more is revealed the tension mounts. The slow burning turns into to a blazing end. A young man loses his bearings and two women make very different decisions for their futures.

I expect more brilliant renderings from this author, she is a true talent. If you enjoyed [book:Bull Mountain|23398919], I think you'll enjoy this. It doesn't have the same amount of violence, actually very little as it is more psychological than graphic. The feel though, for me, was similar.

ARC from Edelweiss ( )

DNF at 12%. Didn't care about the characters. So much macho posturing and pointless aggression. The narrator's voice was really off-putting, not at all a "Nebraska" accent as I know it, more of a rural southern accent. Disappointing. ( )

Pickard County Atlas by Chris Harding Thornton is a very highly recommended rural noir that focuses on past traumas amid the insular nature of a small town.

It is 1978 in a dusty town in the north central sandhills of Pickard County, Nebraska. Sheriff’s deputy Harley Jensen is on night patrol where he follows a routine as he cruises the area and checks on the empty farmsteads located throughout the county. He also keeps an eye out for Paul Reddick, a young man who always seems to be involved in trouble of one kind or another. In an attempt to bring some kind of closure after eighteen years, Dell Reddick Sr. has just made the decision to place a headstone over an empty grave for Dell Jr. who was killed in 1960 at the age of seven by a farmhand. Then the man committed suicide before he could tell people where he buried the boy and the body was never found. After this tragedy, the Reddick family has struggled. Virginia Reddick, Dell Jr.'s mother, withdrew into her own world and is said to be crazy. Rick Reddick is trying the best he can but his wife, Pam feels trapped and wants to escape from him, the constant struggle for money, and raising their three year old daughter.

Harley Jensen has a past trauma that other's in the county know well. In 1938 his mother committed suicide when he was young and the house where it happened is one of the abandoned farm houses on his regular patrol route. Harley is still traumatized by this, but can hide his emotions as a part of his job. The novel unfolds during six oppressively sweltering days and begins when Harley is on patrol and passes by his family's old house, he sees Paul Reddick's truck parked there and turns into the drive to see what trouble the youngest Reddick is up to now.

Pickard County Atlas is a wonderful example of rural noir and highlights the small town gossip and stories that can follow a family for generations. The slow start, while requiring some patience, eventually pays off and allows the tension to gradually build while the characters are introduced and their struggles with life are presented. As each new days unfolds, we become privy to the characters disclosing another incident, another misunderstanding, another enigma, another question, another deduction, another secret. As each new piece of information is added and builds upon the previous revelations, the novel becomes increasingly compelling, hopeless, and complex. The characters are well developed, and, although not especially likable, they are realistic as they head toward what seems a predestined fate. The quality of the writing and prose is excellent, making this an impressive debut novel.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2020/12/pickard-county-atlas.html
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3725390693 ( )