Review: An edgy, uncomfortable, compelling detective story - and a romance
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 20, 2013
This is a very different book for John Inman - it is intense, uncomfortable, compelling. While there is a romance (and a bromance) that frame the plot - the book is really about the increasingly desperate efforts of two smart, funny cops (Smith and McCray) to stop a serial killer. It offers a horrifying glimpse into the darkest of hearts in America's heartland.The opening prologue is one of the most chilling things I've read in years, worthy of a Patricia Cornwell murder mystery. There is a litany of carefully choreographed violence as the killer circles in for the kill on his real prey. It can be off-putting, and was certainly not the most, um, cozy reading I've done of late; but Inman pulls it off, and the book is a heart-pounding page-turner. You care for the characters, even the secondary ones; Inman produces portraits that are vivid, even if they only flutter across a few pages as the story moves relentlessly forward.But the book is also very much a tale of the profound ability of people to be kind as well as cruel; to protect the weak without reason other than goodness of spirit. It is an affirmation of the best of the human heart alongside the ultimate perversion of it.I couldn't have been more surprised by this book coming from Inman's pen. It's worth a read, but I wouldn't recommend it for bedtime.