ARC Review: The Bitter Past by Bruce Borgos

The Bitter Past
Author: Bruce Borgos
Publication: Minotaur Books (July 18, 2023)

Description: In the tradition of Craig Johnson and C. J. Box, Bruce Borgos's The Bitter Past begins a compelling series set in the high desert of Nevada featuring Sheriff Porter Beck…

Porter Beck is the sheriff in the high desert of Nevada, north of Las Vegas. Born and raised there, he left to join the Army, where he worked in Intelligence, deep in the shadows in far off places. Now he's back home, doing the same lawman's job his father once did, before his father started to develop dementia. All is relatively quiet in this corner of the world, until an old, retired FBI agent is found killed. He was brutally tortured before he was killed and clues at the scene point to a mystery dating back to the early days of the nuclear age. If that wasn't strange enough, a current FBI agent shows up to help Beck's investigation.

In a case that unfolds in the past (the 1950s) and the present, it seems that a Russian spy infiltrated the nuclear testing site and now someone is looking for that long-ago, all-but forgotten person, who holds the key to what happened then and to the deadly goings on now.

My Thoughts: The story begins when Sheriff Porter Beck is called to the isolated home of retired FBI Agent Ralph Atterbury where he finds Atterbury has been tortured to death. Atterbury had been researching a crime that had happened in 1957 which concerned nuclear testing and a Russian spy.

When the FBI in the person a Sana Locke shows up, Beck finds himself in the middle of the sort of investigation he thought he had left behind him when he retired from the Army. Someone is looking for a Russian agent left over from 1957 and wants to find him very badly, badly enough to leave a trail of dead elderly men behind him. 

Beck is the perfect man for this job. He has an eidetic memory and experience in intelligence having worked in Russia while he was in the service. His only problem is that he was forced to retire from the Army because he suffers from night blindness which he is keeping from his fellow police officers and everyone else. 

I really enjoyed the flashbacks to 1957 told from the viewpoint of the Russian spy sent to discover the U.S.'s nuclear secrets. I liked that he found that he couldn't do what he had been sent to do after coming to know some people and falling in love with the top scientist's daughter. 

The story was filled with twists and turns including a father who was the sheriff on the county before Beck and whose dementia is increasing. I liked his adopted sister and his relationship with her. I liked Beck's twisty brain. 

I will be eager to read more books in this series when they become available.

Favorite Quote:

"I'm afraid we have another problem, Sana."

She looks up at me. "Will it require me staying awake any longer?"

"It might. The guy we killed this morning is not the person who killed Abernathy."

That's enough to get her to her feet. "Please tell me you're joking."

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.