Audiobook Review: A Killing in the Hills by Julia Keller

A Killing in the Hills
Author: Julia Keller
Narrator: Shannon McManus
Series: Bell Elkins (Book 1)
Publication: Brilliance Audio (August 23, 2012)
Length: 12 hours and 33 minutes

Description: What’s happening in Acker’s Gap, West Virginia? Three elderly men are gunned down over their coffee at a local diner, and seemingly half the town is there to witness the act. Still, it happened so fast, and no one seems to have gotten a good look at the shooter. Was it random? Was it connected to the spate of drug violence plaguing poor areas of the country just like Acker’s Gap? Or were Dean Streeter, Shorty McClurg, and Lee Rader targeted somehow?

One of the witnesses to the brutal incident was Carla Elkins, teenaged daughter of Bell Elkins, the prosecuting attorney for Raythune County, West Virginia. Carla was shocked and horrified by what she saw, but after a few days, she begins to recover enough to believe that she might be uniquely placed to help her mother do her job. After all, what better way to repair their fragile, damaged relationship? But could Carla also end up doing more harm than good - in fact, putting her own life in danger?

In this powerful, intricate debut from Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Julia Keller, a mother and a daughter try to do right by a town and each other before it’s too late.

My Thoughts: Bell Elkins has moved back to Raythune County, West Virginia, to become the prosecuting attorney. She moved there with her teenaged daughter but not her husband. He never wanted to return to West Virginia and is happy with his life in Washington, DC.

Bell had a troubled childhood and was placed in the foster care system when she was ten and her older sister killed their abusive father and burned down the run-down trailer that was their home. Her sister, who is up for parole, refuses all contact with Bell.

Meanwhile, Bell is on a crusade because prescription bill abuse is running rampant in the county. She is also working on the case of a mentally retarded man killing his six-year-old playmate and also on a murder investigation when an unknown gunman entered a local diner and murdered three elderly men who were having coffee there. 

Bell's daughter Carla was at the diner when the shooting occurred and thinks she recognizes the shooter. However, instead of telling her mother, she decides to investigate on her own which leads to her being kidnapped by the shooter. 

The third viewpoint character is that of the shooter who sees himself as a badass superspy, but is actually just an impulsive, amoral punk.

This was an interesting story well narrated by Shannon McManus. I thought there might have been a little too much repetition about the chronic poverty, joblessness, and hopelessness in West Virginia but enjoyed the mystery. 

I bought this one from Chirp. You can buy your copy here.