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Showing posts from May, 2014

Book Review: Billy Coffey's "The Devil Walks in Mattingly"

The Devil Walks in Mattingly , Billy Coffey 's 4th book, extends his string of getting better with each new novel. Like his previous works-- Snow Day , Paper Angels , When Mockingbirds Sing -- The Devil Walks in Mattingly is set in the fictional town of Mattingly, Virginia.  The setting is same as from novel to novel, and the Mattingly books do features same recurring characters.  In this story, Jake Barnett is the town sheriff, in addition to being husband to Kate and father to Zach. Jake lives under the shadow of his harsh, disapproving father, Justus. Kate briefly befriends teenager Lucy Seekins, who in turn connects with a hermit named Taylor Hathcock. As the title suggests, The Devil Walks in Mattingly is darker than Coffey's previous novels. Twenty years before the events in the novel, a teenager's death affects the lives of Jake and Kate, and in the present-time setting. they are still haunted by it. Then a murder occurs, disrupting the town's peaceful ex