Knowles builds for impact and speed. Even the ruthless hero’s matter-of-fact reflections on his felonious craft (“The games...
The fifth recorded caper for the thief who, imitating Richard Stark’s Parker, is known only as Wilson dangles a fortune in jewels in front of him and an ill-fated crew.
David Phillips and his brother-in-law, Alvin, offer a nifty target for a heist: Mendelson Jewels, where David works as a jewelry designer for Saul Mendelson, who’s become a little absent-minded and more than a little paranoid as he’s gotten on in years. During one special weekend, Mendelson will be holding a million dollars’ worth of sparklers waiting for the right personnel to grab, and Vin believes he’s assembled just the right personnel: strong-armed Johnny, a racist ex-con, and his buddy Tony; a pair of safecrackers both named Diego; Elliot, a hacker who can get inside the firm’s computer system; Monica, an African-American driver; and Wilson (The Buffalo Job, 2014, etc.) and his friend Miles. The group’s original plan, which already sounds pretty complicated, is aborted when two apparently indispensable members of the crew are killed in a car crash, leaving Wilson, who always thought nine people were too many for the job in the first place, to try his luck together with Monica and Miles. When this second attempt is stymied as well, Wilson realizes that he’s up against a rival thief just as smart and ruthless as he is, somebody who’s been playing him from the beginning. As in Jeffery Deaver’s very different thrillers, identifying the other thief doesn’t end the complications. Neither does killing the other thief. The tension will ease only when breathless readers turn the very last page.
Knowles builds for impact and speed. Even the ruthless hero’s matter-of-fact reflections on his felonious craft (“The games we play are never fair and they never end clean. They just end”) achieve a truly baleful economy.Pub Date: May 16, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-77041-101-2
Page Count: 296
Publisher: ECW Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Middling for this fine series, which automatically makes it one of the season’s highlights.
Fired from his job as Game and Fish Warden after wrapping up his colorful sixth case (In Plain Sight, 2006), Joe Pickett returns to nab the perpetrator of the perfect crime.
According to his own confession, small-time lawyer Clay McCann, feeling bullied and insulted by four campers he encountered in Yellowstone Park, shot them dead. A ingenious technicality he’s discovered, however, prevents him from being tried and convicted. Wyoming Governor Spencer Rulon, a former prosecutor, can only slap McCann’s wrist, but he’s determined to figure out what Rick Hoening, one of the victims, meant by an email that hinted at secrets that could have a major impact on the state’s financial health. So he asks Joe, now working as foreman at his father-in-law’s ranch, to poke around the park while maintaining full deniability for the Governor. The situation stinks, but Joe’s so eager to get away from his wife’s poisonous mother and go back to his old job that he agrees, and in short order there’s a spate of new killings to deal with—some committed by McCann, some not. As usual, there’s little mystery about which of the sketchy suspects is behind the skullduggery. But, as usual, the central situation is so strong, the continuing characters so appealing and the spectacular landscape so lovingly evoked that it doesn’t matter.
Middling for this fine series, which automatically makes it one of the season’s highlights.Pub Date: May 10, 2007
ISBN: 0-399-15427-2
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2007
By keeping the action limited to the college and its surrounding gossip network, James presents a sharply focused story that...
Murder on a college campus leads an informal investigator into interdepartmental drama that smacks of reality TV.
His longtime work in libraries has primed Charlie Harris (Six Cats a Slayin’, 2018, etc.) for lifelong learning. So when he has the opportunity to audit a class in the history of early medieval England at his alma mater, Athena College, Charlie jumps at the opportunity. He’s heard nothing but wonderful things about professor Carey Warriner, and the first day of class exceeds his expectations. There’s even another adult learner in the course, Dixie Belle Compton, who seems equal parts student and fashion plate. When Charlie chats briefly with Dr. Warriner after class, he overhears hints of some sort of conflict between the attractive professor and Dixie Belle. Not that it’s any of his business, but Charlie wonders how the two know each other outside class. Athena is apparently a hotbed of interdepartmental romantic scandals among the faculty. Although Dr. Warriner is married to a fellow professor, it’s possible that he’s been conducting himself with Dixie Belle on an informal basis. Charlie has a history of nosing his way into town gossip, so it’s natural for him to consult with his fellow Athenians about what might be going on, especially when Dixie Belle is killed before the second class meeting. Ably aided by large and ferociously friendly Maine Coon sidekick Diesel and his latest kitten addition, Ramses, Charlie uses his connections to separate fact from fiction. Will he be able to solve the case before the killer strikes again?
By keeping the action limited to the college and its surrounding gossip network, James presents a sharply focused story that celebrates the role of the armchair investigator and his informants.Pub Date: July 16, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-451-49112-1
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2019
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