Donald Harstad - The Big Thaw

Reading Donald Harstad's The Big Thaw enforces how much I enjoy reading police procedurals which contain good, normal cops, and that is just what Houseman, the main character, is. The focus here is the police work with no need to let the emotionally flawed cop stuff that is so popular these days get in the way. There are hints that Houseman's marriage is not the greatest, and maybe, in another lifetime he would end up with the dispatcher, Sally, but Harstad is careful to not take the series in that direction (at least not yet). I am hopeful that the conclusion of an ongoing thread in this book will mark the end of the pervasive militia presence in the series so far. There were times while I was reading this book that I was left with such a creepy feeling, I had to put the book down. That to me says that Harstad is great at descriptively capturing a mood and communicating it to his readers.