The Misery of December by Anita Mohammed

A contemporary face-off between the seedy underbelly of society and the selfless forces of good, The Misery of December by Anita Mohammed pits vile deeds against valiant defenders for a gripping small-town crime thriller, showing how gang violence can hit any size town or city. A grim, tongue-severing cartel boss named Oscar Solando is mercilessly eliminating his criminal competition across Burlington, Vermont, where an unusual truce between the city’s rival gangs had previously kept the violence in check. Tasked with eliminating this murderous conqueror, a team of seven detectives tackles the gruesome case, putting their lives on the line as the city’s delicate peace erupts into all-out war. While the prose is overly direct, even for a hard-boiled crime novel, it remains a gritty undercover drama that crackles with a compelling collection of villains and heroes, and brutal bursts of action, resulting in a viscerally suspenseful portrait of organized crime and its collateral victims.