The ending may not be a surprise, but characters enmeshed in a diligent investigation never fail to mesmerize.
Two detectives working for the FBI chase a killer choosing seemingly random victims from around the United States in this debut thriller, the first of a proposed series.
Elijah Warren, recruited by the FBI from a homicide task force, doesn’t get along with Aurelia Blanc, the bureau’s best forensic pathologist. But Director Clint Adams can’t deny that the two work well together. After they close a case in New York in early 1997, Adams makes them indefinite partners and puts them on a plane to Nashville, Indiana. There, small-town residents are shocked by the discovery of a body “melted” and cut into pieces. The detectives scrutinize the crime scene and question locals but don’t make much headway. That is, until Elijah and Aurelia both receive notes left in their hotel rooms, poetic stanzas clearly from a killer watching and toying with them. Meanwhile, in Colorado, rangers find the remains of a woman with an accompanying poem. Now pursuing a serial killer, the detectives follow a trail of victims from different states, while the now-dubbed Poetic Murderer leaves behind additional clues. In one instance, a man’s name is provided at the scene of someone else’s body, and it’s soon apparent that the killer has abducted said individual, all part of an appalling plan. Though readers will likely spot a significant clue before Elijah and Aurelia, Cady’s novel is a solid detective story thanks to a meticulous investigation. Numerous characters, for example, have input, from a medical examiner to Adams, who brags he’s found the best lead (“You’re welcome,” he adds). A slowly developing relationship between Elijah and Aurelia eases the mutual tension, and Cady fortunately keeps the light romance from overwhelming the ongoing case. Rich prose is at its most indelible when detailing perspective from the vicious “man wearing black”; vibrant descriptions are gloomy but no less fascinating, like a man who’s mentally and physically “being twisted in a barbwire blender of what made him human.” The killer coldly conversing with his victims makes him even more disturbing, telling someone his death will “help prove a point.”
The ending may not be a surprise, but characters enmeshed in a diligent investigation never fail to mesmerize.Pub Date: April 14, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4834-4867-1
Page Count: 230
Publisher: Lulu
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
© Copyright 2026 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.
