The only thing wrong with finishing the fifth Colter Shaw novel is realizing there is no sixth waiting on my TBR list.
I have a confession to make. I read South of Nowhere, the fifth and (currently) final Colter Shaw novel by Jeffery Deaver, in one day.
To be fair, Mr. Deaver made it nearly impossible to stop. Every chapter ended with something that convinced me I'd quit reading after "just one more chapter." Several hours later, I reached the last page and realized the sun was setting. Oops.
This time, Colter Shaw finds himself in a small mining town facing what appears to be an unavoidable natural disaster. Days of relentless rain, rapid snowmelt, and an aging levee that has long been ignored have everyone watching the water rise. If the levee fails, the entire town could be washed away. That looming catastrophe creates an urgency unlike any of the previous books in the series. The mystery is compelling, but Mother Nature is keeping her own countdown.
I labeled this one a small-town thriller, and the setting deserves just as much credit as the characters. In a small town, everyone knows everyone else's business (or thinks they do). You have local politics, curious bystanders, selfie seekers, opportunists hoping to profit from the chaos, and officials trying to keep everything from falling apart. One of my favorite details was the mayor suddenly finding himself serving as the completely inexperienced chief of police. Only in a small town could that seem remotely plausible.
One of the things I've always loved about Colter Shaw is how his mind works. He doesn't rely on hunches alone. He assigns percentages to possibilities, constantly recalculating as new information comes in. Maybe that's the math geek in me, but I love watching him analyze every situation instead of simply charging ahead. Even five books into the series, his methodical approach never got old. If anything, it became one of the reasons I kept turning pages.
Jeffery Deaver is also a master of misdirection. Just when I thought I understood where the story was headed, well, nope. Add in relentless pacing, and this became one of those novels where putting the book down felt impossible. So I didn't.
The supporting cast shines as well, especially Colter's mother, Mary Dove. Hey. Someone was shooting at her children. What's a mom to do? I may have smiled at a little justice outside the system.
One scene, in particular, had me holding my breath. Dorion receives a simple text message: "Need you now." It names a local medical center, and suddenly everything changes. It's a perfect example of how Deaver can create enormous suspense with just a few carefully chosen words.
I've also been watching Tracker, the television series inspired by these books, and I've enjoyed it. But reading the Colter Shaw novels is a different experience entirely. The show captures the spirit of the character, but the books let me climb inside Colter's analytical mind. I get to watch him weigh possibilities, notice details everyone else overlooks, and build the solution piece by piece. Reading creates a richer experience because my imagination gets to direct the movie.
Looking back over all five Colter Shaw novels, what impresses me most is that none of them felt repetitive. Each adventure presented a completely different challenge, and South of Nowhere may be the most unique of them all by blending a disaster thriller with a small-town mystery.
If this truly is the end of the series, I'll miss following Colter's adventures. But if Jeffery Deaver ever decides to write a sixth book, I'll happily clear my schedule. Because apparently reading an entire Colter Shaw novel in one day is now a thing I do.
