A Longer Fall

November 1, 2019
In the second installment of Harris' weird Western series set in an alternate former United States (after An Easy Death, 2018), gunslinger/bodyguard for hire Lizbeth "Gunnie" Rose must accompany a mysterious crate to its destination, but things go terribly wrong. A long train ride east to the country of Dixie isn't 19-year-old Lizbeth's idea of a good time, but it is a job, and she needs it, especially since her last job left her with a long recovery and no crew. Her new troupe, the Lucky Crew, seems competent enough, and when Lizbeth spots some suspicious folks on the train, she's pretty sure they're about to be tested. A shootout precedes an explosion that engulfs the train. Someone must really want the Lucky Crew's cargo. Lizbeth has been shot, her crew has been decimated, and the contents of the crate are gone, but she's still got a job to do. When a blast from Lizbeth's past--Eli Savarov, a grigori, or Russian wizard--shows up, Lizbeth discovers that he's in search of whomever hired the Lucky Crew to deliver the crate. Lizbeth agrees to take a job as his bodyguard, and the two, posing as a married couple (it's only proper) poke around the Louisiana town of Sally for clues that will lead them to the chest. They quickly realize the town is in racial turmoil: Slavery doesn't technically exist, but it might as well considering the backward attitudes of the townsfolk and their shabby treatment of Sally's black citizens. It all seems to lead to a powerful family that holds the town in its thrall, and, of course, the explosive contents of that troublesome crate. Lizbeth and Eli spend quite a bit of time on old-fashioned sleuthing (and, delightfully, between the sheets), but the action ratchets up exponentially in the surprising last half. Lizbeth is a no-nonsense, dryly funny narrator, and while this installment lacks a bit of the spark of the first book, it's still a shoot'em-up, rollicking ride. The indomitable, quick-on-the-draw Lizbeth remains an irresistible heroine, and Harris proves she still has the magic touch.

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November 25, 2019
The second installment in Harris’s Gunnie Rose series (after An Easy Death) does little to expand the alternate world it’s set in, resulting in a disappointingly flat fantastical analog of the Jim Crow South. Lizbeth Rose has joined a new crew of mercenary guards tasked with protecting a crate as it is moved from Texoma to Sally, a town in Dixie. When their train derails just short of their destination and the cargo disappears, Lizbeth suspects betrayal within the crew. As Lizbeth goes undercover to retrieve the crate, her erstwhile lover, Eli, shows up with a plan to help the black population of Sally rise up against the white family that controls the town. The cultural differences between Lizbeth, a Texoman gunslinger; Eli, a magic-using Russian prince; and the denizens of Sally are hinted at but underexplored. That revolution is stirred up by external forces instead of arising from within the oppressed black population, meanwhile, veers uncomfortably close to white savior narratives. Readers will be left unsatisfied. Agent: Joshua Bilmes, JABberwocky Literary.

December 1, 2019

Lizbeth Rose has finally recovered from the job that almost killed her. She's joined the Lucky Crew to take a crate from Texoma into Dixie, even if riding the train is not her idea of a good time. Shots are fired and the train is blown up, killing half the crew. Then more shots are fired, landing Lizbeth and the few surviving crew in dire straits--especially when she finds Eli Savarov, the Holy Russian Empire grigori and prince she knows from her previous job, looking for her and the crate. Eli must deliver the chest, which could change the future of Dixie. As Eli and Lizbeth once again are thrown together, Lizbeth must handle guns, emotions, and treachery in a place that devalues her at every turn. VERDICT The sequel to An Easy Death brings an alt-future United States wrapped in flintlock fantasy, navigated by a plucky young protagonist. [See Prepub Alert, 7/15/19.]--Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Lib. Syst., Northampton

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2019

In this second in a series starring young gunslinger Lizbeth (aka Gunnie) Rose, who navigates the divided remains of America after the government collapses mid-20th-century, Lizbeth hires on to help transport a crate into Dixie, the self-exiled southeast territory of the country. The crate's contents could incite rebellion, and its theft leads to a bloodbath--and Lizbeth's decision to go undercover to find out what's going on. With a 100,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.