Readers will surely root for this good-natured gumshoe.
The second in Basinski’s (Dead in the Water, 2015, etc.) thriller series finds returning retired cop Lt. Mario Morales cutting his vacation short when he reluctantly joins a murder investigation.
Morales hasn’t even checked into the Bonita Inn on Florida’s Palm Island when he hears about a floating cooler with pieces of a body inside. But he’s there to spend time with Sun Li, hoping their friendship will develop into something more. After several days, the local chief of police (and fellow LAPD officer back in the day), Ed Shipley, asks Morales for help finding whomever shot and killed the victim, Mark Sullivan. Morales says no thanks, but when Sun Li unexpectedly splits, a letter left as explanation, he changes his mind. Ed believes Sullivan may have found gold, an alleged batch the CIA lent to the Cuban government in the ’60s that went missing. That’s not quite as shocking as someone taking a shot at Ed and Morales, though it’s unclear which one was the target. Morales heads to his home base of Little Havana for intel from the CIA and eventually confirms that someone’s definitely trying to kill him. He gradually uncovers a web of deceit surrounding Sullivan, as well as another body, and soon worries that Sun Li didn’t leave—not willingly, at least. Basinski quickly builds sympathy for his protagonist with Morales’ undeniable devotion to Sun Li. The ex-cop is slow to start questioning people, but once he does, the case escalates. He adds a suspect or two, for example, attempting to link Sullivan to the second murder, and with credible evidence, including an insurance policy and blackmail, red herrings aren’t easy to identify. An incriminating clue near the end perhaps too conveniently points to a killer, but that doesn’t make the inevitable confrontation any less intense. Morales’ first-person narrative makes him even more endearing, describing his surroundings not like a meticulous detective but an ordinary guy; a dinner table, for example, reminds him of Sunday meals with his grandma.
Readers will surely root for this good-natured gumshoe.Pub Date: July 22, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5238-6390-7
Page Count: 176
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A comic-book thrill ride with the added appeal of bear shifters falling in love.
Bear shifters battle their attraction and awkward flirtations while trying to stop a criminal focused on terrorizing young shifters.
Annette Garsea is one of the hardest and most dedicated caseworkers at the Interspecies Placement Agency of Minnesota, a foster care system for shifter species. It’s her job to find homes and resources for at-risk shifter youth and children. At times, her work brings her within close proximity of private investigator David Auberon. Both are bear shifters with an obvious connection, but Annette thinks she’s too busy for a relationship, and David can’t seem to say more than five words to Annette before getting tongue-tied. It takes a shifter baby in grave danger to give the two bears the nudge they need to graduate from strictly business to something way more than friends. Davidson’s (Deja New, 2017, etc.) trademark goofiness, over-the-top action scenes, and fierce heroines are all accounted for along with a memorable cast of characters, though her books can be an acquired taste for readers who prefer their shifters growly and full of angst. David is a sweetheart with a long-standing crush on Annette; in his mind, she’s way out of his league. He’s also supportive and completely comfortable letting Annette shine as the fearsome mama bear. The pair are wonderfully matched, whether they’re watching each other’s backs in the midst of danger or being two utter cornballs once they let their feelings show. There's some of the cadence of old Hollywood banter in how they speak and what they say—except they can both shift into huge bears. Despite more serious themes like homelessness, kidnapping, and violence, it’s very much a Marvel movie–type paranormal romance with all the action and none of the detailed, gruesome bloodshed.
A comic-book thrill ride with the added appeal of bear shifters falling in love.Pub Date: March 31, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4926-9701-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
For once Deaver takes more effort to establish his hero’s bona fides than to give him a compelling and logical plot. The...
Veteran thrillmeister Deaver kicks off a new series about a man who collects rewards for a living.
Don’t call Colter Shaw a private eye, or a freelance investigator, or even a soldier of fortune, though his job includes elements of all three. The son of a cranky survivalist who died years ago amid suspicious circumstances, light-footed Shaw has returned close to his childhood home in the Bay Area in the hope of claiming the $10,000 Frank Mulliner is offering for the return of his daughter, Sophie, a college student who stormed out after the two of them fought over the FOR SALE sign outside his house and hasn’t been seen since. Shaw, who has the cool-headed but irritating habit of calculating the numerical odds on every possibility, thinks there’s a 60 percent chance that Sophie’s dead, “murdered by a serial killer, rapist or a gang wannabe.” Even though he accepts rewards only for rescues, not recoveries, he begins sorting through the scant evidence, quickly gets a hot lead about Sophie’s fate, and just as quickly realizes that Detective Dan Wiley, of the Joint Major Crimes Task Force, should have followed exactly the same clues days ago. (The rapidly shifting relations between Shaw and the law, in fact, are a particular high point here.) The day after Shaw’s search for Sophie comes to a violent end, he’s already, in the time-honored manner of Deaver’s bulldog heroes (The Burial Hour, 2017, etc.), on the trail of a second abduction, that of LGBT activist Henry Thompson. Readers who haven’t skipped the prologue will know that still a third kidnap victim, very pregnant Elizabeth Chabelle, will need to be rescued the following day. Thompson’s grief-stricken partner, Brian Byrd, tells Shaw, “It’s like this guy’s playing some goddamn sick game”—a remark Deaver’s fans will know to give just as much weight as Shaw himself does.
For once Deaver takes more effort to establish his hero’s bona fides than to give him a compelling and logical plot. The results are subpar for this initial installment but more encouraging for the promised series.Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-525-53594-2
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019
BOOK TO SCREEN
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