I hope the fact that I read this book in about 26 hours, when I was working for 8 hours of it, staying up way too late on a Friday night (Saturday morning?) to finish, tells you how good it is.
We’re told to “write what you know,” and having been a street cop for 25 years, Adam Plantinga certainly brings that depth of knowledge and experience to bear with his main character, former Detroit cop Kurt Argento. The way he weaves Kurt’s life lessons as a police officer into the narrative is seamless, enlightening, and entertaining.
On the run from the Sinaloa drug cartel, as well as various law enforcement agencies for crimes he has both committed and been framed for, Argento finds himself in Barton, South Dakota, living in a church basement and paying his way as the church’s handyman. Through his interactions with the congregation, and an encounter while tending to the church grounds, Argento befriends Majed, a Syrian teenager living in the town with his mother. Political refugees, Majed and his mother saw his father spirited away by the Syrian secret police five year earlier.
But the encounter on the church grounds is a serious one, as two men pursue Majed, a runner on the high school track team. Argento talks them out of further pursuit, but they are not dissuaded so easily. Kurt’s cop instincts kick in, and after one horrific incident, he finds himself on the road with Majed, traveling to California to reunite the boy with the only family he has left.
It’s not often that villains in the novels I read scare me, or creep me out, but the two in Dark Country are up there. They may not be in Anton Chigurh territory, but they’re definitely knocking on that door. The scene where Argento is finally face to face with the pair is….well, intense is not a strong enough word. It is certainly that. It’s also incredibly disturbing.
The relationship with Argento and Majed is wonderful, and shows wonderful growth in both characters. I hope Kurt gets to visit the young man at some point in the future.
This is the first of Adam Plantinga’s Kurt Argento books that I’ve read, and it certainly will not be the last. (Ended up purchasing the first one at a local used bookstore!) 
Dark Country certainly sets a high standard for the other books, as well as the thriller genre in general.
All in all, a terrific novel. I don’t know if I should say Plantinga is really hitting his stride, having not read the first two Argento books, but with Dark Country alone, he’s definitely cementing himself amongst the elite of thriller authors.
5/5 phins
Amazon: Hardcover, Kindle
Bookshop: Hardcover, eBook
