Vigilante justice leads to something more complex in this New England–accented novel about a multifaceted reporter.
A Boston reporter finds himself in the middle of a murder case after scuffling with street punks in Daley’s (South Pacific Survivor: In Samoa, 2009) latest thriller.
Newsman Dax Grantham hopes to move to the investigative beat and tries to hone his skills by trailing his psychologist wife, Debbie, while he’s dressed as an old man, for practice. He’s sidetracked, however, when thugs accost an old woman and his martial arts training enables him to step in. An editor who learns of the incident asks him to cover the story, but Dax dodges assignments relating to the crime. What’s worse, his trailing of Debbie has made him suspect that she might be having an affair, as she and the mayor’s chief of staff, Bradley Swanson, have met on several occasions. When Bradley is found murdered, police find evidence against Debbie and arrest her, so Dax initiates his own investigation into the crime. Unfortunately, he’s tied to the victim, having confronted him about Debbie, and authorities are looking at Dax not only as the vigilante, but as a murder suspect. Despite the author’s playful title, the story isn’t really about Dax as a crime fighter à la Batman, whose name, along with those of other comic-book heroes, turns up frequently. The bulk of the suspense derives, and proficiently so, from Debbie. Dax begins investigating to exonerate his wife, a woman he never fully trusts and often surmises is either setting him up or possibly pointing the evidence in his direction. But he isn’t a squeaky-clean hero; his few fights with criminals occur not when he’s doing his job as a reporter, but by pure happenstance, typically when he’s out spying on Debbie. The gleefully bemusing Dax wears many hats, some good, such as working as an amateur detective, and others considerably less flattering; his obsessively tracking Debbie, without her knowledge, borders on stalking. A lawyer in the Boston area, Daley deepens the mystery by occasionally dropping hints about his protagonist’s back story, which includes an incident years earlier that caused his wife to distrust him and a traumatic high school experience that ultimately comes to light.
Vigilante justice leads to something more complex in this New England–accented novel about a multifaceted reporter.Pub Date: March 16, 2014
ISBN: 978-1937536640
Page Count: 252
Publisher: Anaphora Literary Press
Review Posted Online: July 8, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A taut, exceptional thriller.
If you’ve always wished Lee Child’s Jack Reacher had a little more balance in his life—but the same formidable talents—you'll love Joe Pike and the latest book in this long, superb series (The Wanted, 2017, etc.).
All Joe wanted to do was go to the bank and make a deposit. He knew Isabel Roland, the young teller, seemed a little interested in him, but he doesn’t mix romance and money. Sitting in his car shortly after leaving the bank, though, he notices Isabel walking outside and putting on a pair of sunglasses, and then he sees her talking to a man and disappearing into an SUV with him, "a flash of shock in her eyes." Joe's training—which includes stints in the Marine Corps, the Los Angeles Police Department, and “various private military contractors”—makes him sit up and pay attention. He follows along in his own Jeep, and when the SUV stops for a traffic light, Isabel’s abductors don’t stand a chance. Then, when Isabel is kidnapped again, Joe feels compelled to find her. He enlists Elvis Cole, his longtime friend and private eye, whose laconic style and sharp wit are a helpful counterbalance to Joe’s terse style. As they search for answers, more dead bodies pile up, and the men wonder just how innocent this bank teller really is. Told from the alternating perspectives of Joe, Elvis, and various criminals, the story becomes multilayered while the tension builds. Crais never loses control of his clean, clear prose or his ability to sketch fully fleshed characters in a few scenes, with Joe providing the action and Elvis providing the insight.
A taut, exceptional thriller.Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-525-53568-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
Some of the twists are more convincing than the last one, which leaves a few loose ends. But it’s great to see Cole (The...
The shooting of an apparent serial killer allows the LAPD to close the books on seven murders—but private eye Elvis Cole won’t have it.
Dead suspects don’t look any more guilty than Lionel Byrd. In his hand is the gun that fired the fatal shot into his head; at his feet is an album with Polaroids of seven women who’ve been killed at the rate of one a year, each photo snapped moments after the subject’s death. Homicide detective Connie Bastilla is only too happy to write finis to a troublesome case. But Cole, who produced the evidence that allowed Byrd’s lawyer to verify an alibi for the fifth murder, isn’t convinced. And he comes up with enough evidence to convince the seventh victim’s brothers to quit beating him up and help him investigate further. The harder Elvis digs, the more Byrd’s suicide looks like a murder whose evidence the cops are deliberately sweeping under the rug. But how far does the cover-up extend, and how high up are its beneficiaries? With some help from Detective Carol Starkey, late of the bomb squad, and his partner Joe Pike, whom nobody’s ever accused of being too sensitive, Cole follows the trail through a string of well-placed twists to a satisfying climax.
Some of the twists are more convincing than the last one, which leaves a few loose ends. But it’s great to see Cole (The Forgotten Man, 2005, etc.) back in action.Pub Date: July 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-7432-8164-5
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2008
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