Evening Street was published by Headline on 19 November 2015 and is available to buy here
Karin Slaughter has proclaimed Julia Keller as ‘a rare talent’ and Michael Connelly says she’s ‘a beautiful writer’ and now she returns with an exclusive eshort featuring series lead prosecutor Bell Elkins, heroine of A KILLING IN THE HILLS, BITTER RIVER, SUMMER OF THE DEAD and LAST RAGGED BREATH. Featuring first chapters from each novel, now is the time to immerse yourself in Bell’s world…
Attorney Bell Elkins’s days are taken up by the high-profile cases that she prosecutes in Raythune County, West Virginia, a region scarred by poverty and prescription drug abuse. But her nights are very different.
Volunteering at an auxiliary intensive care unit where nurses deal with the youngest and most vulnerable victims of drug abuse – children born to mothers addicted to painkillers – is not for the faint-hearted but Bell feels a desperate need to help. Rocking ailing infants to sleep at the Evening Street care facility, she provides what medical science – for all of its marvels – cannot: a simple human touch.
One terrifying night, though, a distraught father breaks in and holds the staff and Bell hostage, demanding a reckoning for a family grudge. The drama quickly escalates toward a lethal flashpoint. At the centre of it all is a baby, only hours old. Can Bell ensure that he, indeed that all of the babies, survive the night?
Previously in the series
A Killing in the Hills – Book 1
Bitter River – Book 2
Summer of the Dead – Book 3
The Devil’s Step Daughter – Short Story
A Haunting of the Bones – Novella
Ghost Roll – Short Story
Last Ragged Breath – Book 4
My thoughts
Julia Keller can do no wrong in my eyes. I love everything about Bell Elkins and the way of life in Acker’s Gap. This should be a must read series, for fans of quality small town law and order.
Evening Street is a short novella, set in between Last Ragged Breath and Sorrow Road. Bell works hard as an attorney during the day. Every so often, she gives a little of her time to charity. She volunteers at Evening Street, a free medical facility dedicated to supporting babies born to addicts. Drug addiction is a major problem in the area. One of the babies is Abraham, a two day old infant. Abraham has been born to poverty and to addiction. He is a very sick baby. Abraham’s father shows up late, whilst Bell is volunteering. It is a desperate story. A father who wants to be with his son. A very vulnerable baby, who will probably not survive. A safeguarding issue. A desperate time.
Julia Keller manages to pack so much into this short novella. We see the very real consequences of the drugs situation in Acker’s Gap. Gritty and moving!
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