Billy Coffey

Dear Readers,

 

If you read Billy Coffey's book When Mockingbirds Sing, you will want to follow it up with The Devil Walks in Mattingly.  It is actually set 4 years before Mockingbird, but it is no less a good book.

 

It is the story of adults who are trying to survive while an event in their teens is still affecting them.  Jake is sheriff in town and he feels so undeserving of the title because he never wanted to be sheriff, his family's name got him the job.  Kate lives with her own demons from that fateful day.  She believes she is the lone reason that Philip McBride decided to kill himself that day.

 

Mattingly is a quiet town where the local jail cell is used for storing the local softball team's equipment.  Nothing happens there.  Neighbors take care of each other.  So the night that Jake needs to drive through town with his siren going, no one quite knows what to do.  They just know it was bad. 

 

Billy writes engaging characters, that make you want to find out their story.  The good guys are not perfect and the bad guys can be very sympathetic.   It makes for a story that is hard to lay down and one that you realize that you could easily be the main character.  We all have ghosts from the past that refuse to let us rest until we are willing to forgive ourselves and let God's forgiveness wash over us.

 

There is a bit of a supernatural element to this one, but I am pretty sure that if you like book 1 then you will want to visit Mattingly again and get to know the towns folk again.

 

Happy Reading