It’s really a kick when an author you dig gives your work a big thumbs up and shows they really get your story, your main character and what makes him tick. Joe Clifford just gave The Fatal Saving Grace some richly-appreciated bona fides in this knowing review:

“I’ll admit it: I am a sucker for anti-heroes. The wounded. The haunted. The broken fighter. When it’s the 10th round and he has next-to-no shot of winning, but he stays on his feet.

This is a deeply American ideology. You don’t have to beat the other guy, just the clock: the one at ringside and the one inside you. Sometimes, if you’re lucky, they even sync up.

I’ve had a long distaste for the term “likable protagonist.” It’s lazy, and frankly unrealistic. A good guy who has zero bad qualities? I can’t think of more than one person, and it would come with a major qualifier.

Author Jim Nesbitt doesn’t write Ed Earl Burch with targeted demographics; he doesn’t work within the weak confines of “politically correct. Instead, we get the flawed, battered guy, who is still out there, trying to do the right thing.

The West Texas landscape is a character too. The dry heat and quiet desperation attach themselves to the reader.

It’s a part of America that has a different set of rules. Burch is watching this place change, and Nesbitt shows you the raging conflict of one who wants better but still clings to the past, to tradition and habit; and this warrior’s code plays out as soon as someone’s trying to kill Burch (it’s not a spoiler when the action kicks off the first page.)

The Fatal Saving Grace rides on high octane from the get-go. And the best part is that melding of both the fast pace and the delightfully languid tone.

Ed Earl Burch may be a bit prickly, and he probably isn’t terribly popular with the country club set. But there’s no one you’d rather have in your corner when the shit is about to go down.”

Grab a copy of Joe Clifford’s delightfully dark and gory coming-of-age saga, Skunk Train, at: https://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Train-Joe-Clifford/dp/1960725297

Snag your very own instant Jim Nesbitt classic at:

Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/Fatal-Saving-Grace-Hard-Boiled-Thriller/dp/0998329479

Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Fatal-Saving-Grace-Hard-Boiled-Thriller-ebook/dp/B0FZXKHF83