Review: "The Buried Hours" by R.S. Grant

The Buried Hours by R.S. Grant
Published December 2023 via Thomas & Mercer
★★★

Signe is used to dealing with criminals—as an investigative journalist, she's made them her job. But two years ago, a group of unidentified criminals made Signe their job, and her life hasn't been the same since. So when she gets a tip promising answers, she leaps for it—even when everything about the tip screams trap, and even when she's not sure answers will bring anything other than heartbreak.

Now, I am predictable: I read this less for the particulars of the mystery and more for the hiking. A big chunk of the book takes place in the Yosemite backcountry, out where there's nobody to hear you scream. Hiking isn't really Signe's thing—give her a lounge chair and a screwdriver over a camping mat and a bottle of lukewarm water, any day of the week—but if that's what it takes, well, she finds someone who understands the wilderness and throws herself into it with vigor. I don't know Yosemite and couldn't always picture the scenery, but I could feel Signe's fatigue and the relief of an icy lake after a hard day of hiking, and I'll take it.

The mystery side of things is a little hit or miss for me. Organized crime isn't usually my mystery reading style—call me basic, but I prefer a good old-fashioned serial killer stalking his victims through the woods with a knife—but thinking about all the details that go into modern-day organized crime, especially the work involved in flying under the radar, was fascinating. But the villains tend to get a bit...evil villain-y...and I never find that as interesting as a complex, flawed character. Here, when we find out who the ultimate bad guy is, it's a great twist...but then he keeps getting worse and worse and worse, without a single redeeming quality. And, partly because the villains are so Big Bad Wolf, the one character whose motives we're really supposed to question never really feels, well, questionable. (Too much an outdoorsy Ken doll—though this Ken's job is definitely not "beach".)

This will likely appeal to those who like their mysteries gritty with a splash of romance, but it was a bit of a mixed bag for me.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.