Deep Blood

by Phillip Thompson

Deep Blood is the story of Mississippi sheriff Colt Harper, whose moral compass is slightly askew - separated but not divorced from his wife, he sleeps with a New Orleans stripper who regularly violates the drug laws of Lowndes County, he drinks too much and habitually ignores the more mundane aspects of his sworn duty. Even when he must investigate the death of a young man - the son of a close friend - his mind wanders from the subsequent investigation. But when his alcoholic, amoral father Winston is arrested - yet again - for DUI, he learns an inexcusable truth about his father's past, a truth he wants to ignore but knows he must confront.

254 pages, Paperback

First published July 16, 2013

About the author

Phillip Thompson grew up near the East Mississippi town of Columbus, birthplace of Tennessee Williams. He received a bachelor's degree in journalism from Ole Miss before serving in the Marine Corps for 12 years. As a Marine, he served in California and Hawaii, aboard the USS Missouri, and in combat during the Persian Gulf War with the 1st Marine Division. He also spent the better part of two years traversing the island nations of the South Pacific as the lead planner for the 50th Anniversary of World War II in the Pacific.

Since leaving the service, he has worked as a reporter and editor at newspapers in Mississippi and Virginia, and his journalistic work has been featured in newspapers across the Deep South and the East Coast. He wrote as a freelancer for Civil War magazine and The Washington Times and worked as a staff cartoonist for 10 years at Marine Corps Times. He has also worked as a defense analyst; media spokesman; consultant; speechwriter and Senate aide.
Phillip Thompson is the author of novels, "Enemy Within," "A Simple Murder" and "Deep Blood." His short fiction has appeared in "O-Dark-Thirty" the literary journal of the Veterans Writing Project; "Thrills, Kills 'N' Chaos," "Out of the Gutter Online," "The Shamus Sampler II" and "The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature." He attended the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference as a fiction writer in 2003.

He also authored the non-fiction account of his Gulf War experience "Into the Storm: A U.S. Marine in the Persian Gulf War."

He lives in Virginia. Find him online at http://kudzucorner.wordpress.com.

Reviews

[Ed]

Character driven series debut about a young Mississippi county sheriff dispensing his own brand of justice. What separates this book is the quality of the prose. Overall it's solid crime fiction I recommend.

[Christopher Gerrib]

Deep Blood is Phillip Thompson’s third novel. If his other two are anywhere near as good as this, I’ll have to add both to my list.

Thompson, a Marine who served in the First Gulf War, was born and raised in a small town in Mississippi, and in Deep Blood he returns to those roots. Deep Blood’s protagonist is Sam “Colt” Harper, a newly-elected sheriff in Lowndes County, Mississippi. Colt was also a Marine, fought in Iraq and as sheriff he brought one of his Marine buddies in as deputy. Oh, and Colt’s dad is the town’s drunk.

The story essentially starts with Colt finding a body in the local reservoir, that of Clifford Raines, a black teenager. Figuring out who killed the boy is part of the story, as well as sorting out his personal life and family history. Deep Blood is “southern-fried noir.” It has that dark edge, with characters who most definitely aren’t saints, dealing with tough hands dealt them by life as best they can.

I have to say that Thompson takes a dark view of race relationships, and his character’s language runs from salty to crude. But then this is noir, not Disney, so one should expect that. Having warned the sensitive reader, I have to say that I found Deep Blood a gripping read, and well worth the effort. There’s a saying in vaudeville to “always leave your audience wanting more.” Deep Blood is a short novel, and so I wanted more, but in a good way.

In short, for fans of hard-boiled crime novels, Deep Blood is a great read. Highly recommended.

[Ames Holbrook]

I first got hooked on Phillip Thompson through his Wade Stuart series of straight-ahead thrillers featuring the good-old-boy cashiered ATF agent solving crimes. Deep Blood is less about solving crimes and more about solving people and the complicated relationships that connect them. And while Deep Blood is less up my personal reading alley than the Wade Stuarts, it is a decidedly more ambitious novel. The layers are richer, the morality grayer, and the timeline far longer and loopier. In making this transition, Thompson gets these new pieces right. Reading this book is a sometimes-uncomfortable dusty-lane outing of flawed characters, families and friends, and bad situations, and I enjoyed the whole trip. This goes on the bookshelf between Frank Bill, another master of the brutal rural boil, and John Grisham, who has examined racial relations in the South with a similarly sharp eye.
I am willfully not giving it five stars, because I can’t give it that same rating I give his Wade Stuart novels, but with Deep Blood Phillip Thompson has given us an absorbing read of the kind that provokes thought and discussion.
If you’re on the fence, check out a sample – the rest of the book is at least that good.

[Julie Hobus]

Modern Southern Noir

Well-written and carefully paced, this is a great example of modern Southern noir. O suppose comparisons to "Justified" are inevitable, but this author is much more sympathetic to his characters. There is dark humor, to be sure, but not at the expense of the rural folk of Mississippi. I would say it has more in common with the Longmire novels of Craig Johnson. I'm looking forward to reading more of Sheriff Colt Harper.

[Pam Ward]

Good quick read.

This was a good quick read. The plot was just okay and really not very well developed but it was good enough to keep me reading. My only real complaint is with the author's irritating misuse of the word "gone" when meaning "going to"...as in the sentence "I'm gone go fishing today but I'm going to go the store first". It's like the author couldn't really decide how the character should speak.

[DENNIS g BRUNSWICK]

Another good one

Whenever I finish a good book, I always wonder what to follow it up with. And this is one of those books, just a lot of fun to read. just a flat out good time.. Mmmmm, what next??

[Edward Garment]

Phillip.Thompson is a first rate writer

Very enjoyable read. Beautiful writing with wonderful descriptions. People seem !like real people not like made up characters. The crimes are not as important as the quality of the writing.

[Kevin]

You can really see Phillip Thompson perfecting his craft.

[Sandy Pittman]

Thumbs down review!

Cussing & taking the Lords name in vain.
Cheating with his own sister in law-that’s where I stopped!
Very disappointed with this book!

[William Thompson]

Easy read. Good entertaining book. Background on Colt Harper.

[Kenneth Nordqvist]

Another good writer to look forward t0

I am realy soft for the enviroment of the southern states ,add a sheriff and some other interesting caracters and iam sold.

[Martha Smith]

Love to read police, correctional officer, investigative, prison books as I was a correctional officer in an adult male prison for 25 years. Hate the bad staff, they are worse than an inmate!