The second of Johansen’s suspensers starring Eve Duncan (The Face of Deception, 1998), a forensic sculptor who shapes human faces from the skulls of murder victims. The serial killer who murdered Eve’s daughter Bonnie refused to tell her where he stashed the body. Eve has therefore devoted her life to bringing back her Bonnie and also the remains of other murdered children (the “lost ones”), so that their families can have the closure of a proper burial. In this she is helped by tough Atlanta PD detective Joe Quinn, whose marriage, thanks to his obsession with Eve, was conveniently dissolved in The Face of Deception. Continuing in his role of investigator, protector, and grief therapist, he now hopes to add lover to that list and to get moody Eve to take a few emotional risks. For some flimsy reasons that may be recognizable to other serial killers, another deranged murderer has targeted Eve because his 20-year killing spree has left him burnt out and he hopes that murdering Eve will give him a fresh new direction. This mysterious monster, called “Dom,” tells her that he was really Bonnie’s killer, and that he—ll murder a ten-year-old girl, Jane, if Eve doesn’t play his game. This gives Eve a chance to bond with Jane, a tough kid who like Eve was born in the slums of Atlanta, and to spend nearly all her time with Joe, a human guardian angel who seems never to sleep. Also watching over Eve is the ghost of Bonnie, who talks to her in dreams and is either a real angel or a figment of Eve’s subconscious. Eve, Joe, and Jane, accompanied by the FBI, a journalist, and Sarah Patrick and her near-cadaver dog Monte, a golden retriever trained to locate bodies, pursue the increasingly bloodthirsty killer to Arizona, where they bring him down on the site of his tortured childhood. Johansen creates some nonconformist women characters along with heroes as devoted to them as golden retrievers.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-553-10624-4
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Bantam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2000
Careful research, a driving plot, wry wit, and compelling characters make this a most entertaining read.
The real-life Victorian police detective who was the inspiration for Charles Dickens’ Mr. Bucket serves as the main character in a fast-paced historical mystery.
Although this is Mason’s debut novel for adults, he’s an accomplished playwright. Those skills are evident in the crisp dialogue and well-structured scenes of this book. It begins with a bang in 1860 as Chief Detective Inspector Charles Field, assigned to guard Queen Victoria and Prince Albert during a public appearance, witnesses an assassination attempt. The shooter, who’s arrested, is mentally ill, but Field quickly begins to suspect the man is just a tool of a conspiracy—one connected to the controversy over the new ideas of the naturalist Charles Darwin. Field’s determined pursuit of the truth is sometimes snagged by his celebrity; Dickens fans, including some in the royal family, insist on calling him “Mr. Bucket” and confusing the fictional policeman with the real one. Field persists, however, plunging into a dizzyingly complex plot that takes him all over London and off to Germany. The cast of characters teems with satisfyingly despicable villains, many of them based on real aristocrats and scientists. The most villainous, however, is the memorably terrifying Decimus Cobb, a former choirboy–turned–Victorian-era Hannibal Lecter. Countering Cobb and the other bad guys are the earnestly heroic Field, his resourceful wife, a kidnapped butcher’s boy, and Prince Albert, who gets a touchingly human portrayal. There are cameos by such famous figures as Karl Marx, Dickens, and, of course, Darwin. With many grisly murders and many shocking surprises along the way, the book rockets toward a last dark twist.
Careful research, a driving plot, wry wit, and compelling characters make this a most entertaining read.Pub Date: June 11, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-61620-634-5
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Algonquin
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
The intricate puzzle and continuing Irish atmosphere make this the series’ best to date.
A clever Irish lass is not afraid to voice her opinion.
Siobhán O’Sullivan may be still fairly new to the Garda, but she seems to have a real aptitude for crime solving (Murder in an Irish Churchyard, 2018, etc.). In addition, she and her boss, DS Macdara Flannery, have established an unapproved romantic relationship, and she’s “mother” to her siblings, all of whom help run a bistro in Kilbane, a picture-perfect town that’s hosting both an Arts and Music Festival and an International Poker Tournament. The card players include top-seeded Eamon Foley, aka the Octopus, who’s brought along his heavily pregnant wife, Rose. Foley’s closet rivals, Clementine Hart and Shane Ross, are eager to unseat him. After winning big with “the Dead Man’s Hand,” Foley is accused of cheating. Unhappy referee Nathan Doyle announces that he’ll review the tapes and deliver his ruling the next morning. Meanwhile, the unruly and well-oiled crowd moves on to Sharkey’s Pub, where the next morning Siobhán finds the body of Foley hanging in a locked storeroom. His death looks like suicide, but Siobhán, certain it’s murder, pleads her case to Macdara. The contents of Foley’s pocket include a set of brass knuckles, two defaced playing cards, and an apparent suicide note but no keys, wallet, money, or mobile phone. Among the locals who had placed unwise wagers with Foley before he died is Henry Moore, who bet his daughter Amanda’s racehorse. Both of Foley's rivals would be glad to see him gone, and his wife’s sorrow is limited to the prize money she’s never going to collect. Despite some reluctance from Macdara, Siobhán continues to dig, even in places he warns her to avoid, straining their relationship in her determination to leave no stone unturned.
The intricate puzzle and continuing Irish atmosphere make this the series’ best to date.Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4967-1904-1
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Kensington
Review Posted Online: Dec. 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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