A charming and suspenseful page-turner punctuated by dashes of the surreal.
A nerdy but swashbuckling reporter crisscrosses Florida to identify his college friend’s mysterious stalker in this second novel in Bruce’s thriller series.
Former Phoenix Daily Sun columnist Alexander Strange sets out with his papillon dog through the Deep South to spend some time on his Uncle Leo’s trawler, which is moored in Goodland, Florida. As a professional aficionado of all things bizarre, Alexander anticipates the Sunshine State will provide ample fodder for his “weird news reports.” Little does he know how odd his journey will become. His first peculiar encounter is with Madam Jazzabelle, a palm reader—or “Licensed Chirologist,” if you ask her—in New Orleans. After she foresees death in his hand, she abandons her practice and insists on accompanying Alexander on his journey. When the flirtatious Tess Winkler, Alexander’s old college flame who lives in Gainesville, reaches out to him, he agrees to help her uncover who’s been sending her threatening messages—although Amy Duffy, Tess’ spurned would-be lover and former roommate, is the prime suspect. The investigation eventually involves hush money, blackmail, abortion, and a conservative politician. The trio of self-appointed investigators are joined by Bristol Kreuger, a “full-on goth.” Together, they conclude that the disturbing messages correspond to physical locations on a “Weird Tour of Florida” that Tess once published. Bruce’s choice to structure the book as visits to these real-life sites, whose diversions range from the paranormal to the divine, is an amusing way to gain insight into the Southern state’s oddest nooks and crannies. Indeed, the situation comes to a head at The Devil’s Millhopper, described as “one of the largest sinkholes in Florida.” Overall, the book’s substance does not go much deeper than an average airport read. However, Alexander’s one-liners are certainly worthy of a chuckle, Bruce’s prose is consistently crisp and controlled, and the tension between the various characters is genuinely entertaining throughout.
A charming and suspenseful page-turner punctuated by dashes of the surreal.Pub Date: April 1, 2020
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Tropico Press
Review Posted Online: June 4, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
As an adjunct member says, “You’re not a family, you’re a force.” Exactly, though not in the way you’d expect.
The ne’er-do-well son of a successful Irish American family gets dragged into criminal complications that suggest the rest of the Devlins aren’t exactly the upstanding citizens they appear.
The first 35 years in the life of Thomas “TJ” Devlin have been one disappointment after another to his parents, lawyers who founded a prosperous insurance and reinsurance firm, and his more successful siblings, John and Gabby. A longtime alcoholic who’s been unemployable ever since he did time for an incident involving his ex-girlfriend Carrie’s then 2-year-old daughter, TJ is nominally an investigator for Devlin & Devlin, but everyone knows the post is a sinecure. Things change dramatically when golden-boy John tells TJ that he just killed Neil Lemaire, an accountant for D&D client Runstan Electronics. Their speedy return to the murder scene reveals no corpse, so the brothers breathe easier—until Lemaire turns up shot to death in his car. John’s way of avoiding anything that might jeopardize his status as heir apparent to D&D is to throw TJ under the bus, blaming him for everything John himself has done and adding that you can’t trust anything his brother has said since he’s fallen off the wagon. TJ, who’s maintained his sobriety a day at a time for nearly two years, feels outraged, but neither the police investigating the murder nor his nearest and dearest care about his feelings. Forget the forgettable mystery, whose solution will leave you shrugging instead of gasping, and focus on the circular firing squad of the Devlins, and you’ll have a much better time than TJ.
As an adjunct member says, “You’re not a family, you’re a force.” Exactly, though not in the way you’d expect.Pub Date: March 26, 2024
ISBN: 9780525539704
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
