Steph Post's Lightwood, a thriller set in Florida, reminded me of Rectify and Sons Of Anarchy. When Judah Cannon, son of the infamous Cannon clan, gets out of jail, it takes him only a day to get involved with Ramey, the girl he grew up with, and pull off a heist, stealing drugs money from the Scorpions, biker gang. The bikers are not the real baddies here, the one holding all the strings is Sister Tulah, a deranged preacher woman who, while spewing inflammatory sermons to her congregation, uses serpent as weapons, and pulls off a little arson on the side. The woman is terrifying.
Judah doesn't want to get involved in his father's business, but when the bikers retaliate by harming a family member, he is all in. And he and his girl try to get out on top, while every evil person in town is on the warpath.
It's all very Wild at Heart. A bright, hot couple, fueled by their love for each other trying to escape the sins and claws of their parents. It isn't nearly that weird, although the preacher lady does her very best to be, it is undoubtedly as wild.
The prose gets into the nitty-gritty of the sticky Florida action, putting your right in the car, church or on the back of a motorcycle. The tempo is steady, without any unnecessary fuss. The stakes are clear, and the ending might be what you hoped for (although a bit confusing at first, I had to read it twice, there are a lot of players to keep tabs on.)
I liked it a lot and looking forward to reading Walk in the Fire, the Judah Cannon sequel. ( It doesn't hurt that Michael Connolly loves it.)