In The Baggers by James Hale, Tommy Hatfield finds himself drifting into a nocturnal underworld of street-level scrap thieves, following his father’s untimely death. Based in the economically depressed river town of Saint Albans, West Virginia, this group of bicycle-riding youths shifts from desperate scavenging into a highly efficient cog for a multi-state theft empire. A clever coordinator named Jared Banks quickly turns their little operation into a huge stolen goods ring, all working for a mysterious boss known as Mr. Tanner. Everything changes when a rival gang picks a fight over the territory, and this dangerous situation forces Tommy to face the reality of his choices. Caught between the alluring promise of fast money and the devastating reality of street violence, will Tommy find a way to escape this downward spiral before the dark forces engulf his entire family?

James Hale’s The Baggers is an urban crime thriller that does a great job of showing what goes on in the dark corners of a small town. The book confronts the troubling reality of losing a parent and how that pain can push someone to make some very compromising decisions involving the wrong kinds of people. I love how Pastor Jett enters the picture to give the families some biblical guidance and comfort, especially when the outside street gangs bring a level of violence that Saint Albans has never seen before. That spiritual side of the narrative gives the plot a lot of heart and makes you care about what happens to these characters. Hale skillfully blends a police investigation with the struggles of a neighborhood that’s simply trying to protect its kids. His writing is creative and engaging. If you enjoy novels about family loyalty, faith, and redemption, this book leaves you with a very powerful message. Highly recommended.

In James Hale’s The Baggers, eighteen-year-old Tommy Hatfield rides with the young scavengers who roam Saint Albans, West Virginia, collecting anything they can sell before dawn. Their new leader, Jared Banks, turns the loose street group into an organized crew linked to a larger criminal network, drawing Tommy’s sixteen-year-old brother Silas into the same life. After men in red hoodies attack the Baggers and leave one dead, Detective Miller Bailey begins tracing the violence beyond local thefts. He asks his longtime friend Jett Thomas, a former detective who became the pastor of Coalsmouth Community Church, to help reach the Hatfield brothers. As Tommy questions where Jared is leading them, Bailey and Jett discover that nighttime scrap collecting conceals an operation extending far beyond Saint Albans, while the Hatfield family fears what bringing Tommy home may cost.

James Hale’s The Baggers is a really well-executed Christian crime novel, and Tommy is a protagonist we want to see find his way home. Hale gives Saint Albans an incredible amount of texture, with cinematic scenes like stormwater running beneath a railway at Dragon’s Hole, where the rank smell of diesel from the trains settles into the damp tunnel. I love how Hale writes small acts of mercy, which are done beautifully, such as young Steve leaving his only two granola bars beside a family sheltering under the Coal River Bridge. The story is rooted in Christianity, as Hale ties the prose to Scripture, like Jett using Ecclesiastes to explain how human schemes draw people away from God. That belief continues in Tommy’s arrival at Bible study, his father’s worn Bible in hand, before “All I Have Is Christ” brings him to tears. Well written and immersive, readers who enjoy crime fiction about family redemption will adore this book.