Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy.  Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them.  For this week’s Waiting on Wednesday, I check out a fun, action-packed sequel set for release very soon with Hard Town by Adam Plantinga.

Amazon

Earlier this year I had an awesome time reading the outstanding debut thriller, The Ascent.  A fantastic and over-the-top read from new author Adam Plantinga, The Ascent followed tough former cop Kurt Argento as he was forced to fight his way to the top of a multileveled, rioting prison.  A highly entertaining read, The Ascent ended up being one of my top debuts of 2024, and I was very excited to see that Argento already has a sequel coming out this year with Hard Town.

Hard Town will be the second Kurt Argento book and looks to take the author’s damaged protagonist on another intense adventure, this time in small-town Arizona.  Set for release down in Australia in June 2025 (although I believe Hard Town has already been released in some formats in America), Hard Town should be another deeply exciting and outrageous read loaded with action, intrigue, and compelling characters.  Due to how much Plantinga impressed me with The Ascent, I’m pretty keen to pick up Hard Town in the next couple of months, and I have no doubt it will end up being one of the more addictive thrillers I read this year.

Plot Synopsis:

From the author of the USA Today bestseller The Ascent, a retired Detroit cop must unravel the mystery of a small desert town.

After surviving a deadly prison break, ex-Detroit cop Kurt Argento is ready for some quiet. Still working through his grief over the passing of his wife, Argento finds himself house-sitting for a friend with his loyal companion, Hudson, a Chow Chow-Shepard mix. It’s a simple life, but it’s one that Argento is content to live. Then Kristin Reed shows up, begging Argento to find her missing husband and son. 

Argento starts to notice that Fenton, Arizona is more than meets the eye. First there’s the large, overly equipped public safety team complete with specialized tactics and sophisticated weaponry. Then there’s the unusual financial boosting of failing small businesses by the U.S. government. Finally, there’s a man with no name with unprecedented control over the town. Argento finds himself unraveling not just the truth behind the disappearance of a family, but a conspiracy that’s taken a whole town to cover up. 

Fenton, Arizona is going to push him further than he’s ever had to go. And along the way, he may just lose a part of himself. Because justice isn’t as black and white as Argento would like to believe.