QUIET, PRETTY THINGS

A series of grisly murders rocks a small town and pushes a detective to the brink of emotional collapse.

Tennessee author Stockton’s suspense novel features Quentin Robichaud, a steady-handed veteran police detective who has seen better days and yearns for happiness. With a curious combination of faded pride and resentment, he monitors the poverty-stricken hamlet of Whitebranch with David Polanski, an older, even more disgruntled detective on the force whose temperament is “as abrasive as steel wool.” They join forces at a gruesome crime scene where a mutilated woman’s body was found in a cattle field. A small wooden game piece embedded in the victim distinguishes the homicide as the telltale work of a local serial killer who committed murder several months prior. The narrative provides plenty of alternating perspectives, including those of the two police veterans, county medical examiner Deen Paltro, inquisitive rookie detective Lucas Torres, and, in an intriguing twist, the inner, unhinged machinations of the murderer. The man is extremely familiar with the town where he stalks his victims as well as the desolate countryside nearby where he kills and dumps them. Besides the murders, other stressors darken Robichaud’s days, including career burnout, a failing marriage, and sessions with a psychotherapist. Robichaud, Polanski, and Torres diligently follow the leads, though suspects are scarce in a small town where everyone knows one another. Though the detectives are a somewhat incompatible trio, their spadework gives them a clever perspective on the case, edging them closer to the killer’s identity as the body count rises. Then things get personal for the investigators. A rousing conclusion that puts one of the detectives and the killer face to face excitingly ends things with a surprise twist that readers will not see coming. While not offering the most original of plots, the author is a smart writer, ensuring all of the moving, if familiar, elements of her cinematic story complement one another. (The novel, published in 2020, was turned into a film released that year.) Stockton doesn’t waste precious pages on expository introductory material but gets right to the action from the opening segments. Mystery readers will find much to appreciate in this unique crime tale that exposes the murderer early and then fills in the gory details.

A gripping, high-tension thriller about a hunt for a serial killer.