Jim Curtis has returned to his Grey Man series with a short, well-written entry that fills us in on the earlier life of the series’ principle character in Down South.

After too much action, too much peace gets on a man’s nerves. John Cronin’s back from Vietnam and bored, when Billy Moore suggests he check out the brand new Drug Enforcement Agency. He’d expected paperwork and meetings; he got on-the-job training in South America with stakeouts gone wrong and ambushes exploding into firefights.

This isn’t Cronin’s first rodeo, and now he’s taking the fight to the cartels, from the laboratories hidden deep in the highland jungles to the enforcers in the cities and secure compounds!

Down South opens as John Cronin is getting over his post-Vietnam hangover and trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life.  He can’t sit and watch the grass grow, and he can’t find a place in local law enforcement, so he looks further afield to a new organization.  Soon, he’s in the thick of the drug war, and he’s taking the war to the enemy.

Like I’ve said before, Curtis is one of the best story tellers I’ve ever encountered.  In a few short lines, he paints the scene of a steaming jungle or a dark alley, then fills it with well-rounded characters and well-paced action.

Of course, by now, we know John Cronin, but as we delve into Down South, we learn more about his family and the friends that we encounter in the rest of the series.

I’m not sure if the author meant for this to be the start of another story arc in the series, but I certainly hope so.  There’s a lot to explore, and I can’t wait for more.  Down South is definitely recommended.