A largely satisfying second volume that brings new plot threads to the Element series.
Jenny O’Rourke continues her investigation into her family’s occult connections in this, the second volume of the Element series of mysteries.
A few months after her father was arrested along with the other leaders of his secret society—dubbed “the Punishers” by the media—O’Rourke hopes the cult’s crimes are history. Then she sees on the news that her friend Katie Dorcy has been found dead in the creek behind Red Rock Farm. It is the same farm where Jenny grew up and where the order conducted its deadly rituals. Jenny is still traumatized by her own near fatal run-in with the order, and the cult’s infamy has made a tourist attraction of her tiny hometown of Brandtville, Pennsylvania, now known as “Bloody Brandtville.” Jenny can’t help but blame herself for Katie’s death, and she and her boyfriend, Ryan Brandt (whose father was also one of the Punishers) set to work investigating it. A symbol found on Katie’s body suggests that one of the Punishers is still at large and may be trying to reestablish the order. When Jenny runs into a figure from her past, an opportunity presents itself: Can she discover the truth about what happened to Katie by joining the order herself? In this second volume of the Element trilogy, Slawecki writes with urgency and imagination, speeding the plot along between sinister locations and tense interactions. The primary flaw, such as it is, is that the characters tend to speak in the melodramatic vernacular of reality TV contestants. (Even the narration sometimes slips into this language. When Jenny learns that Katie’s husband suspects that she was having an affair, she thinks, “Whoa! Mind blown. She never mentioned any of this to me.”) While the informality is sometimes a mood-killer, it is by no means a book-ruiner, and the story is intricate enough to keep the reader invested. Both the author and Jenny take the threats seriously enough to prevent the more contrived elements of the plot from pushing the book into the realm of camp. Fans of The Da Vinci Code or True Detective will enjoy this maximalist mix of crime, conspiracy, and the occult.
A largely satisfying second volume that brings new plot threads to the Element series.Pub Date: March 3, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73460-043-8
Page Count: 332
Publisher: Graylyn Press
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
If you love good crime writing but aren’t familiar with Winslow’s work, read this trilogy in order.
The dramatic conclusion to the trilogy about two New England crime families begun in City on Fire (2022) and City of Dreams (2023).
Near the end of his journey, multimillionaire Danny Ryan watches a casino implode in a mushroom cloud of dust and muses about his life’s implosions: “The cancer that killed his wife, the depression that destroyed his love, the moral rot that took his soul.” Danny is from Providence, Rhode Island, and desperately tried to leave his criminal life behind him. But using a ton of ill-gotten gains, he invests heavily in Las Vegas properties. Congress is conducting an investigation into gambling that could destroy his casino business and even land him in jail. An FBI agent plans to take Danny down for major sins he’d like to repent for. Meanwhile, can he make peace with his enemies? Nope, doesn’t look like it. Even if the parties involved want to put the past behind them, the trouble is that they don’t trust each other. Is Vern Winegard setting Dan up? Is Dan setting Vern up? “Trust? Trust is children waiting for Santa Claus.” So what could have been a “Kumbaya,” nobody-wants-to-read-this story turns into a grisly bloodletting filled with language that would set Sister Mary Margaret’s wimple on fire—figuratively speaking, as she’s not in the book. But the Catholic reference is appropriate: Two of the many colorful characters of ill repute are known as the Altar Boys, serving “Last Communion” to their victims. On the law-abiding side and out of the line of fire is an ex-nun-turned-prosecutor nicknamed Attila the Nun, who’s determined to bring justice for a gory matricide. (Rhode Island really had such a person, by the way.) Finally, the prose is just fun: A friend warns Dan about Allie Licata: “In a world of sick fucks, even the sick fucks think Licata’s a sick fuck.” A couple of things to note: This not only ends the trilogy, but it also closes out the author’s career, as he has said he’ll write no more novels.
If you love good crime writing but aren’t familiar with Winslow’s work, read this trilogy in order.Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9780063079472
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2024
PROFILES
A tale that’s hard to believe but easy to swallow in a single gulp.
A bear is hunting prey in Wyoming’s Bighorns. And not just any bear.
It’s bad enough that Clay Hutmacher, who manages the Double Diamond Ranch, has lost his son, Clay Jr., to a vicious attack by a grizzly bear. What’s much worse is that Clay Jr.—who’d been about to pop the question to game warden Joe Pickett’s daughter, Sheridan—is only the first of the victims over an exceptionally broad geographical area. Marshal Marvin Bertignolli is clawed and bitten to death over in Hanna. Sgt. Ryan Winner is found bleeding out north of Rawlins. Former Twelve Sleep County prosecutor Dulcie Schalk, one of two survivors of an ambush, doesn’t survive her final encounter. The four experts chosen to kill the grizzly rope Joe into their expedition, but since their quarry keeps turning up far from the last sighting, the most meaningful confrontation the Predator Attack Team has is with a pair of Mama Bears, animal rights activists who demand due process for Tisiphone, as they’ve dubbed the presumed killer. Box, who’s far too canny to leave Tisiphone alone on center stage, follows Joe’s old antagonist Dallas Cates as the ex–rodeo star is released from prison and embarks on his revenge tour, which takes him to Lee Ogburn-Russell, an inventor whose life Dallas saved, and Axel Soledad, a correspondent who shares so many enemies with Dallas that he suggests they go after them together. Franchise fans will appreciate new details about Joe’s complicated family, the obligatory high-country landscapes, and yet another corrupt law enforcer.
A tale that’s hard to believe but easy to swallow in a single gulp.Pub Date: Feb. 27, 2024
ISBN: 9780593331347
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
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