When we think of Wisconsin, Milwaukee usually comes to mind, or perhaps Madison, where the university creates its own college culture. We don't think of the rural southeast corner, where the state rubs shoulders with the Mississippi River, where there are Amish, and where folks can literally disappear into the countryside with no one the wiser. It's in this place, Bad Axe County, where Sheriff Heidi Kick lives with her husband and three children.

Author John Galligan lives and teaches in Madison, and in BAD MOON RISING the rural countryside is as much a part of the story as a character might be. The prologue introduces an individual who is troubled, a transient who we know suffers from a mental health disorder and is not treated well. We also are informed that it’s a broiling hot summer in Bad Axe County, and tempers are short.

"Galligan writes a solid action story with plenty of different plot strands and various characters that serve to keep our attention. How it all comes together is unexpected but logical..."

While we understand that there is more to Heidi than meets the eye, it suffices to know that she is running for reelection as county sheriff, and her opponent is a poor excuse for a candidate. The more we learn about him, the more despicable he becomes. The sheriff's husband is out of town playing baseball, and his mother has come to help with the children. The oldest daughter is at camp and grappling with gender issues. One of the twins, Taylor, has been causing trouble, so we see firsthand how a powerful woman with an important job balances family and work. Hint: when there are people in danger, the job wins.

We also meet Grape Fanta, a newspaper journalist who is out of a job but continues to write headlines and research articles. He was injured in Vietnam and has lived in Bad Axe County for decades. He knows everyone and is on the trail of a lunatic who has been making phone calls and writing crazy letters to him for years. But when his research takes him a bit too far off the beaten path, he gets himself in trouble.

From the first page to the last, the omniscient third person narrator helps us understand several of the main characters. We meet those who are confused, those who are noble and those who are truly depraved --- perhaps a few too many of the latter since it seems that Bad Axe County is a perfect place for lowlifes to come and think they can get away with almost anything. Many of them have been doing just that for a long time. But there's a new sheriff in town (well, she's not really that new at this point, but you get the idea), and she's not letting crime go unpunished.

Galligan writes a solid action story with plenty of different plot strands and various characters that serve to keep our attention. How it all comes together is unexpected but logical, as we see it through Sheriff Kick's eyes. Galligan includes many topics that make BAD MOON RISING a novel of our times: gender issues, wasting disease in deer, living off the grid, rural gender stereotypes, mental health issues, and simple problems relating to work-life balance. There's a lot packed in here that just might merit further investigation.