My thumbs up for Hard Country Having received my reader’s copy (ARC) of Hard Country, I sat down to read - and there I sat.  If anyone had any doubts about this book, shelve them – abso-bloody-riveting from start to finish!!    I read it at one sitting (tho in the end I did have to have a nanny nap in between 2.30am and 5.30am about half way thru!)  In my opinion, it has to be the best thing Michael has ever written and his style of writing really suits this genre – there is the room in this trilogy to expand on Michael’s love of New Mexico and its history.  I was totally swept up in it  - the land, which is as beautifully drawn as we’ve come to expect, the history, but especially the characters.   The way the characters  come alive on the page living in the landscape around them.  Of course the only trouble with a saga is that people you’ve grown so fond of die in the course of time – like your own family, as life ebbs and flows around the main Kerney family, I felt like I was there and part of it.  The minor but pivotal characters, are as real as everything in this saga of pioneering in the Old West – I don’t think Michael put a foot wrong – everything rang true.   Emma, who with her children, seems to be the one who will lead us into the second part such a great character -  she makes me laugh with delight – feisty lady that she is – I think she is the most alive off the page female character Michael has ever written – reminds me of some of the stories you hear about our Australian outback pioneer women.    I am so looking forward to the next book and this one hasn’t even been released yet!! Di Bingham, Webmistress, http://michaelmcgarrity.com © Michael McGarrity 2011