I am really kind of sorry to see the end of the Kinship Series from Jess Montgomery with The Stills. The first books, The Widows, and The Hollows were two of the best novels I have ever read. I thank TLC Book Tours for sending the finale to me at no charge for my honest review.
About The Stills:
The third in Jess Montgomery’s exquisitely written Kinship series, The Stills is a triumph of storytelling by an extraordinary new talent in crime fiction…
Ohio, 1927: Moonshining is a way of life in rural Bronwyn County, and even the otherwise upstanding Sheriff Lily Ross has been known to turn a blind eye when it comes to stills in the area. But when thirteen-year-old Jebediah Ranklin almost dies after drinking tainted moonshine, Lily knows that someone has gone too far, and–with the help of organizer and moonshiner Marvena Whitcomb–is determined to find out who.
But then, Lily’s nemesis, the businessman George Vogel, reappears in town with his new wife, Fiona. Along with them is also her former brother-in-law Luther Ross, now an agent for the newly formed Bureau of Prohibition. To Lily, it seems too much of a coincidence that they should arrive now.
As fall turns to winter, a blizzard closes in. Lily starts to peel back the layers of deception shrouding the town of Kinship, but soon she discovers that many around her seem to be betraying those they hold dear–and that Fiona too may have an agenda of her own.
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About the Author:
JESS MONTGOMERY is the Literary Life columnist for the Dayton Daily News and Executive Director of the renowned Antioch Writers’ Workshop in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Based on early chapters of The Widows, Jess was awarded an Ohio Arts Council individual artist’s grant for literary arts and the John E. Nance Writer-in-Residence at Thurber House in Columbus. She lives in her native state of Ohio..
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My Opinion:
Just like the first two books, The Stills was a great, hard to put down, read. Lily has settled in as Sheriff and she is living again after the loss of her husband. Prohibition is still the law of the land but she only reluctantly enforces the law. But when a young boy almost dies from drinking bad moonshine Lily needs to be more than reluctant about the law.
But one of the people breaking the law is her best friend Marvena. And her old nemesis George Vogel – the man she blames for the death of her husband. George is looking to expand his bootlegging operation and unfortunately she is beholden to him and fears what he will want when he calls in his marker.
What follows is a richly detailed, deeply involving novel where good and bad are not always so easily defined. Like with the two previous books, once I started it was very, very hard to stop reading. I am very sorry to see the end of this series for these three books have been some of the best I have read over the last three years.
Rating:
5
