I almost didn't finish HOMEFRONT. It begins with a school
playground argument wherein a bully named Terry Klumpe gets a swift
comeuppance administered by eight-year-old Kit Broker. Kit's mother
and father --- Nina Pryce and Phil Broker --- aren't your
garden-variety PTA parents. They've relocated to Glacier Falls, MN,
so that Pryce, a Delta Force Army marksman, can recuperate from the
aftereffects of a mission that has left her physically and
psychologically devastated. Broker is a retired --- and legendary
--- law enforcement officer. Kit, who was only defending herself in
the dustup, gets blamed for it, and Broker kind of wimps out over
it. Add to this Broker's gratuitous yada-yada about the Iraqi War,
and I was almost ready to add HOMEFRONT to the reject pile. I was
extremely glad I didn't, because it turns out that this is one of
the best novels I've read this year.

Chuck Logan has been building the Phil Broker/Nina Pryce series for
a while now; HOMEFRONT is the fifth installment, and by far the
best. The little playground drama I mentioned above is a catalyst
for a whole bunch of things. Little Mr. Klumpe comes by his beetle
brow honestly; he is the child of Jimmy Klumpe and Cassie Bodine,
both of whom have family trees that fork instead of branch. Klumpe,
who owns the local waste disposal business, has a good portion of
the town intimidated, while Bodine has a crystal meth addiction
that rides her like a cowboy.

Klumpe escalates the situation by bringing Gator Bodine, his
brother-in-law, into the mix. Gator at first seems to be a good ol'
boy with a very warped sense of humor, but Logan, with almost
agonizing patience, peels back the fragile, deceptive layers of
normality that permit Gator to apparently co-exist with those
around him.

When Gator discovers Broker's true background, he contacts a party
who is quite interested in the current whereabouts of the retired
officer. Gator plans to use his knowledge to leverage some
assistance with an illicit business he quietly has been developing.
Broker and Pryce, trying to rebuild their tenuous relationship
while Pryce recuperates from the physical and mental ravages of her
injury, are unaware that an immediate and terrible danger is on the
verge of confronting them and their daughter, at a time when their
defenses are at their lowest ebb.

Logan is not yet a household name, and that is a shame. This guy is
a master of description and plot, intertwining the two into a story
where anything can, and does, happen. Logan doesn't just create bad
guys; he manufactures penultimate bogeymen who are incredibly
realistic, almost normal in fact but for a telling physical or
mental quirk that gives hint to the seething madness beneath. Logan
also is a master of pacing; he ratchets up the events of the novel
slowly, then kicks out the jams toward a denouement that you won't
want to read without having a defibrillator greased up and at the
ready.

Seriously: the last 60 pages of HOMEFRONT are heartstopping,
heartbreaking, and heartwarming, sometimes simultaneously. This is
one that you absolutely should not miss, at the risk of cheating
yourself.