Sunday, August 11, 2024

Review: Section Roads by Mike Murphey


 

Genre: Coming-of-Age/Mystery/Romance

Description:

“When attorney Cullen Molloy attends his fortieth high school reunion, he doesn’t expect to be defending childhood friends against charges of murder…

In a small town on the high plains of Eastern New Mexico, life and culture are shaped by the farm roads defining the 640-acre sections of land homesteaders claimed at the turn of the Twentieth Century. Cullen and Shelby Blaine explore first love along these section roads during the 1960’s, forging a life-long emotional bond.

As junior high school band nerds, Cullen and Shelby fall under the protection of football player and loner, Buddy Boyd. During their sophomore year of high school, Buddy is charged with killing a classmate and is confined to a youth correctional facility. When he returns to town facing the prospect of imprisonment as an adult, Cullen becomes Buddy’s protector.

The unsolved case haunts the three friends into adulthood, and it isn’t until their fortieth reunion, that they’re forced to revisit that horrible night. When a new killing takes place, Cullen, Shelby and Buddy find themselves reliving the nightmare.

Murder is an easy thing to hide along old country section roads.”

Author:

An eastern New Mexico native, Mike Murphey spent thirty years as an award-winning newspaper journalist.

Appraisal:

This is a great story. It happens at three different points in time with things that happened during all three periods coming together to solve the mystery at the root of the story. You’ll be jumping back and forth between the three different periods, but each chapter makes it clear when the events in that chapter are happening, so keeping track of where you are in time isn’t as difficult as in some books like this. Along with the mystery you’ve got a coming-of-age story for all the characters with how they went from being small town kids struggling to figure life out to reasonably responsible adults. If you’ve ever visited eastern New Mexico and have some sense of the geography and culture there, or really any small town, you’ll find the story draws you in even more. I was especially amused when one of the characters went to a restaurant in Las Cruces, New Mexico in the south-central part of the state and it was a place I’d actually been to myself many years ago. A great story that kept me engaged every step of the way.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Some adult language.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 85-90,000 words

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