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Not Dead Enough
"Phillip Thompson combines the visceral verbal skills of Craig Johnson with the white-knuckle tension of Stephen Hunter. " S.A. Cosby
Sheriff Colt Harper believes that combat veterans share a lifetime bond of loyalty with their fellow Marines. But when his service buddy Robert “Flip” Wilson, who slid into an oblivion of drugs and crime after returning from the Gulf War, shows up in his county and kills a man, Harper's loyalty to his friend smashes into his duty to the law. The two men find themselves on opposite sides now, fighting a different kind of war, where the battlefields are their hearts and souls…and losing will cost them everything.
"Mississippi sheriff Colt Harper has his loyalties tested in the standout third series entry from Thompson... Admirers of S.A. Cosby and Ace Atkins will appreciate Thompson’s combination of hardboiled crime tropes and psychological depth." Publishers Weekly
"Full of crisp, realistic dialogue and spot-on local color, Thompson weaves a story that builds like a coming thunderstorm and explodes with a crack of lightning and thunder in a satisfying ending," Reavis Wortham, Spur Award-winning author.
Praise for the Colt Harper Series
"A winner in the tradition of Justified and Walking Tall." Reed Farrel Coleman, New York Times bestselling author
“Colt Harper is an old-West gunfighter in the modern world. The action doesn’t stop." David Morrell, New York Times Bestselling author, creator of the legendary character Rambo.
"Pure entertainment with an edge. The guy can write!" Linwood Barclay, New York Times bestselling author
"It has some sweet echoes of the past while being something modern at the same time. Pacing is outstanding and the story is engaging. It has a western rash under its skin. Recommended." Joe R. Lansdale, New York Times bestselling author
Sheriff Colt Harper believes that combat veterans share a lifetime bond of loyalty with their fellow Marines. But when his service buddy Robert “Flip” Wilson, who slid into an oblivion of drugs and crime after returning from the Gulf War, shows up in his county and kills a man, Harper's loyalty to his friend smashes into his duty to the law. The two men find themselves on opposite sides now, fighting a different kind of war, where the battlefields are their hearts and souls…and losing will cost them everything.
"Mississippi sheriff Colt Harper has his loyalties tested in the standout third series entry from Thompson... Admirers of S.A. Cosby and Ace Atkins will appreciate Thompson’s combination of hardboiled crime tropes and psychological depth." Publishers Weekly
"Full of crisp, realistic dialogue and spot-on local color, Thompson weaves a story that builds like a coming thunderstorm and explodes with a crack of lightning and thunder in a satisfying ending," Reavis Wortham, Spur Award-winning author.
Praise for the Colt Harper Series
"A winner in the tradition of Justified and Walking Tall." Reed Farrel Coleman, New York Times bestselling author
“Colt Harper is an old-West gunfighter in the modern world. The action doesn’t stop." David Morrell, New York Times Bestselling author, creator of the legendary character Rambo.
"Pure entertainment with an edge. The guy can write!" Linwood Barclay, New York Times bestselling author
"It has some sweet echoes of the past while being something modern at the same time. Pacing is outstanding and the story is engaging. It has a western rash under its skin. Recommended." Joe R. Lansdale, New York Times bestselling author
263 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 4, 2023
About the author
Phillip Thompson
15 books30 followersPhillip Thompson grew up near the East Mississippi town of Columbus, birthplace of Tennessee Williams. He received a bachelor's degree in journalism from Ole Miss before serving in the Marine Corps for 12 years. As a Marine, he served in California and Hawaii, aboard the USS Missouri, and in combat during the Persian Gulf War with the 1st Marine Division. He also spent the better part of two years traversing the island nations of the South Pacific as the lead planner for the 50th Anniversary of World War II in the Pacific.
Since leaving the service, he has worked as a reporter and editor at newspapers in Mississippi and Virginia, and his journalistic work has been featured in newspapers across the Deep South and the East Coast. He wrote as a freelancer for Civil War magazine and The Washington Times and worked as a staff cartoonist for 10 years at Marine Corps Times. He has also worked as a defense analyst; media spokesman; consultant; speechwriter and Senate aide.
Phillip Thompson is the author of novels, "Enemy Within," "A Simple Murder" and "Deep Blood." His short fiction has appeared in "O-Dark-Thirty" the literary journal of the Veterans Writing Project; "Thrills, Kills 'N' Chaos," "Out of the Gutter Online," "The Shamus Sampler II" and "The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature." He attended the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference as a fiction writer in 2003.
He also authored the non-fiction account of his Gulf War experience "Into the Storm: A U.S. Marine in the Persian Gulf War."
He lives in Virginia. Find him online at http://kudzucorner.wordpress.com.
Since leaving the service, he has worked as a reporter and editor at newspapers in Mississippi and Virginia, and his journalistic work has been featured in newspapers across the Deep South and the East Coast. He wrote as a freelancer for Civil War magazine and The Washington Times and worked as a staff cartoonist for 10 years at Marine Corps Times. He has also worked as a defense analyst; media spokesman; consultant; speechwriter and Senate aide.
Phillip Thompson is the author of novels, "Enemy Within," "A Simple Murder" and "Deep Blood." His short fiction has appeared in "O-Dark-Thirty" the literary journal of the Veterans Writing Project; "Thrills, Kills 'N' Chaos," "Out of the Gutter Online," "The Shamus Sampler II" and "The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature." He attended the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference as a fiction writer in 2003.
He also authored the non-fiction account of his Gulf War experience "Into the Storm: A U.S. Marine in the Persian Gulf War."
He lives in Virginia. Find him online at http://kudzucorner.wordpress.com.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 13, 2023
"He was a giant vortex of reckless. You know that. And the man is dead." "Not dead enough," Flip said. "It's like he's aways around."
Mississippi County Sheriff Colt Harper and his deputy are still haunted by something that happened on the Iraqi border after the 9-11 mass murders. They do wonder if they could have done more to keep their reckless buddy from so needlessly getting himself killed that night, but no one feels worse than Robert "Flip" Wilson, the marine who was there when it all happened.
Colt Harper and John Carver also share an unbreakable bond between themselves and their fellow combat veteran marines. So when "Flip" becomes the chief suspect in the murder of a man whose body is discovered in Colt's rural county by two local fisherman, Colt finds himself in a real predicament. Is his first responsibility to get justice for the dead man or to protect his unstable war buddy? A little to John's dismay, Colt's sense of justice will not allow him to treat this case differently from any other.
And this is where the real fun in Not Dead Enough starts, because Wilson didn't turn up in Mississippi unnoticed. Hot on his trail are some very dangerous killers from Los Angeles and Memphis, and if Colt doesn't get to Wilson before they do, his friend is going to end up very, very dead.
Not Dead Enough is the fourth book in Thompson's Sheriff Colt Harper series, but it's my first experience with Harper and deputies John Carver and Molly McDonough, both of whose backstories are explored in some detail here. The novel works well as a standalone, but I'm curious now to learn how much more was revealed about their relationships in the first two books. In Not Dead Enough, Molly is the more interesting of the two because of her struggle with sobriety as a deputy sheriff who has been sober for exactly one year. I would really like to know what made Colt take the chance of making her such a key part of his department -so I now plan to go back and read the first three Sheriff Colt Harper books. I suspect this is a series that could really grow on me.
Mississippi County Sheriff Colt Harper and his deputy are still haunted by something that happened on the Iraqi border after the 9-11 mass murders. They do wonder if they could have done more to keep their reckless buddy from so needlessly getting himself killed that night, but no one feels worse than Robert "Flip" Wilson, the marine who was there when it all happened.
Colt Harper and John Carver also share an unbreakable bond between themselves and their fellow combat veteran marines. So when "Flip" becomes the chief suspect in the murder of a man whose body is discovered in Colt's rural county by two local fisherman, Colt finds himself in a real predicament. Is his first responsibility to get justice for the dead man or to protect his unstable war buddy? A little to John's dismay, Colt's sense of justice will not allow him to treat this case differently from any other.
And this is where the real fun in Not Dead Enough starts, because Wilson didn't turn up in Mississippi unnoticed. Hot on his trail are some very dangerous killers from Los Angeles and Memphis, and if Colt doesn't get to Wilson before they do, his friend is going to end up very, very dead.
Not Dead Enough is the fourth book in Thompson's Sheriff Colt Harper series, but it's my first experience with Harper and deputies John Carver and Molly McDonough, both of whose backstories are explored in some detail here. The novel works well as a standalone, but I'm curious now to learn how much more was revealed about their relationships in the first two books. In Not Dead Enough, Molly is the more interesting of the two because of her struggle with sobriety as a deputy sheriff who has been sober for exactly one year. I would really like to know what made Colt take the chance of making her such a key part of his department -so I now plan to go back and read the first three Sheriff Colt Harper books. I suspect this is a series that could really grow on me.
December 24, 2023
Be Very Careful
Being very careful is a usual thing for Sheriff Colt Harper. His personal definition of that is just hard to match up with conventional careful. In this third book, Colt is visited by ghosts from his military service, called to defend an old friend against a criminal vendetta that has only one weakness. The gangsters don't know Colt Harper.
Being very careful is a usual thing for Sheriff Colt Harper. His personal definition of that is just hard to match up with conventional careful. In this third book, Colt is visited by ghosts from his military service, called to defend an old friend against a criminal vendetta that has only one weakness. The gangsters don't know Colt Harper.
October 30, 2024
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy from the Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Not Dead Enough by Phillip Thompson is a fast-paced run for freedom.
Will Colt capture the killer in his county and keep his job?
Sheriff Colt Harper
Colt is the Sheriff of Lowndes County, Mississippi. The first thing I learned about Colt is that he isn't much for going the long way around anything. He is one of the direct-to-the-point types. Colt and his Deputy John were both Marines in the Gulf War. The time affected their lives then and again now.
I like Colt. Although he is put in a tricky spot during this story, his true character comes through. I also enjoyed his relationship with his deputies, John and Molly. These two help keep him on the straight and narrow.
Flip Wilson
Flip is Colt and John's Marine buddy. He shows up in Mississippi because he has started some stuff in his home state of California, and some bad guys are after him. Flip is haunted by the death of another marine, and has a bad drug addiction. His life is seriously messed up and has been so since he was discharged from the USMC. He tried his hand at surfing, but the drugs kept him from performing at his best. So, that profession dried up.
This entire story is about how Flip handles life, his grief, addiction, and his love for his dead friend's girlfriend. His life has been challenging, but hopefully, he will get it together and maybe have a chance with Melissa if that is where it takes him.
Four Stars
My rating for Not Dead Enough by Phillip Thompson is four stars. I enjoyed the story and getting to know Colt, John, Molly, and even Flip.
After seeing the book on our Kindle, my husband decided to read all three books in the series. While he does not write reviews, I will tell you that he liked these installments. He was even looking for more books by Mr. Thompson. I hope you are still writing, Mr. Thompson.
Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of Not Dead Enough by Phillip Thompson.
Until the next time,
This review was originally posted on Baroness' Book Trove
Not Dead Enough by Phillip Thompson is a fast-paced run for freedom.
Will Colt capture the killer in his county and keep his job?
Sheriff Colt Harper
Colt is the Sheriff of Lowndes County, Mississippi. The first thing I learned about Colt is that he isn't much for going the long way around anything. He is one of the direct-to-the-point types. Colt and his Deputy John were both Marines in the Gulf War. The time affected their lives then and again now.
I like Colt. Although he is put in a tricky spot during this story, his true character comes through. I also enjoyed his relationship with his deputies, John and Molly. These two help keep him on the straight and narrow.
Flip Wilson
Flip is Colt and John's Marine buddy. He shows up in Mississippi because he has started some stuff in his home state of California, and some bad guys are after him. Flip is haunted by the death of another marine, and has a bad drug addiction. His life is seriously messed up and has been so since he was discharged from the USMC. He tried his hand at surfing, but the drugs kept him from performing at his best. So, that profession dried up.
This entire story is about how Flip handles life, his grief, addiction, and his love for his dead friend's girlfriend. His life has been challenging, but hopefully, he will get it together and maybe have a chance with Melissa if that is where it takes him.
Four Stars
My rating for Not Dead Enough by Phillip Thompson is four stars. I enjoyed the story and getting to know Colt, John, Molly, and even Flip.
After seeing the book on our Kindle, my husband decided to read all three books in the series. While he does not write reviews, I will tell you that he liked these installments. He was even looking for more books by Mr. Thompson. I hope you are still writing, Mr. Thompson.
Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of Not Dead Enough by Phillip Thompson.
Until the next time,
This review was originally posted on Baroness' Book Trove
December 13, 2023
Alternative name: Not Dumb Enough.
This book is an encyclopedia of dumb decisions. From the beginning to the end.
I actually enjoyed book #2 in this series but this wasn't very good. Maybe a decent short story. A lot of wasted space on interactions between the Sheriff and an annoying reporter (who showed up EVERYWHERE) and some AA scenes-- that were realistic-- but not needed throughout the book.
None of the characters were very likeable. Even Colt Harper and his sidekicks were just going through the motions in this installment.
As much as I enjoy southern noir and as much as I have liked this author in the past, this book needs to be punted deep into the woods, not to be found again.
This book is an encyclopedia of dumb decisions. From the beginning to the end.
I actually enjoyed book #2 in this series but this wasn't very good. Maybe a decent short story. A lot of wasted space on interactions between the Sheriff and an annoying reporter (who showed up EVERYWHERE) and some AA scenes-- that were realistic-- but not needed throughout the book.
None of the characters were very likeable. Even Colt Harper and his sidekicks were just going through the motions in this installment.
As much as I enjoy southern noir and as much as I have liked this author in the past, this book needs to be punted deep into the woods, not to be found again.
January 19, 2024
Another great story
It's Thompson's best so far, but the publisher didn't help him out to their best ability, and this book demands better. Thompson's story telling was great to begin with, and truly shines here. I love seeing the growth in Colt Harper, one of my all-time favorite literary characters. The copyeditor let a lot of stuff slide, however, that hurt the flow of the story. Thompson gave them a great story. It's gold, but it would shine brighter if the publisher's team had done their work better.
It's Thompson's best so far, but the publisher didn't help him out to their best ability, and this book demands better. Thompson's story telling was great to begin with, and truly shines here. I love seeing the growth in Colt Harper, one of my all-time favorite literary characters. The copyeditor let a lot of stuff slide, however, that hurt the flow of the story. Thompson gave them a great story. It's gold, but it would shine brighter if the publisher's team had done their work better.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews