Review of
The Relentless Pursuit of Everett Pick
by Steven Fisher

**** Excellent

Hard to put down, I found "The Relentless Pursuit of Everett Pick" to be thoroughly enjoyable - full of gritty characters, action, and misadventures. Everett Pick is a schoolteacher falsely accused of a crime he didn't commit. Faced with sure conviction, he's forced to flee across the American Midwest to the Badlands and the Black Hills, only to face troubles he never dreamed of.

Be warned: Everett Pick is not your standard hero! In fact, at first he seems a pitiful loser when he wakes up and discovers that his beautiful, but deadly girlfriend, Mary Fae, is attempting to kill him with a shovel because he's planning to leave her to return to his ex-wife, Juliet. Escaping with his life and not much else, the broke Everett drives 600 miles to his ex-wife's home in Black Hills dressed only in his underwear.

Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to be better off in Juliet's hands. An advocate of a New Age Religion, Juliet worships the mystical "Ascended Beings" and becomes more and more out of touch with reality as the story unfolds. Her sole purpose is to attract followers to worship the Ascended, no matter what the costs to herself and those around her.

Ev Pick undertakes a series of misadventures from being shot in the leg and falling down a canyon while avoiding and interacting with various characters in the Black Hills town of Rapid City. Examples include the wife-beating militia leader, Vernon Sarvis and the town's preacher, Moses Brubaker, who seems to have committed all of the 7 Deadly Sins of life (especially Gluttony and Greed!)

Despite all his misfortunes, Ev displays courage and compassion while under siege from the militia members, the FBI, the sheriff, his ex-wife, and a murderous computer genius. You glimpse the tenderness that Everett can exhibit when he becomes attached to the doomed Lorena, the 18-year-old pregnant wife of the heartless Vern Sarvis.

An unlikely partnership forms between Everett and the local Sheriff, Lonny Gunderson, who comes a close second to Everett for surviving mishaps such as a treacherous deputy and militia members armed to the teeth. Together, Ev and Lonny discover a dark conspiracy unfolding in Black Hills that threatens the life of everyone living there… but will they be too late to uncover the truth?

While reading the book, I kept wanting to know what else could possibly happen to Everett and how or if he would survive his next mishap. I learned that despite all his faults, Everett Pick was a true hero in every sense, regardless of my original opinion. If you enjoy reading Stephen King, you'll love Steven Fisher's book despite its large download size.

I have only one warning… this book is filled with coarse language so I don't recommend it for young readers.

~ Eva Almeida, eBooks N' Bytes Reviews

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