SILENT KNIVES

by Laurence Gough ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 22, 1988

A second go-round for Vancouver cops Willows and Parker (following the recent The Goldfish Bowl)--this one beginning with Willows on a fishing trip, and Parker returning from a dinner date, when both find bodies: Naomi Lister, the girl in the stream, has a Smurf tattoo on her upper arm; the unidentified boy diced into a million pieces in the back of an econoline van had one too, the pathologist says, before it was slashed off. Much tedious detecting later, the team of Willows and Parker connects the two deaths to a hired assassin named Mannie and to Junior Newton, who seems to have employed Mannie under orders from Felix--a depraved geriatric who thinks romps in bed with three, four, and more are rousing good fun. Why kill these former bedmates? Alas, they witnessed the night when Felix's ardor got out of hand and he killed a chum of theirs in an antic tangle of arms, legs, sheets, and so forth. The less-than, big surprise: Felix and Junior are father and son, and when Willows kills Mannie and seriously wounds Junior, dear old dad turns sentimental and wants Junior home, even if he has to bribe the entire Vancouver police force for it to happen. Live-in lover Mischa agrees to handle the bribing with one small plan refinement: the money will wind up in her greedy little hands as she heads for a new, uncluttered life in Japan, sans Felix and his mÉnages. Not much story here and not many likable characters, either. Willows and Parker seem no more congenial this time than last, but that fishing trip is handsomely described. All in all: competent but hardly compelling.

Pub Date: Aug. 22, 1988

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1988

Categories: FICTION