Shockwave: An Aftershock Novel
If you’ve ever sat next to someone, maybe in a bar, maybe at a family gathering, who speaks in a low, gruff voice, hinting at his shadowy past—the kind of person who makes you wonder if you’ve heard wrong, or if you’ve just led a really sheltered life—you’ll know what the first-person narrator of this novel sounds like. Dell is the hero of Vachss’ new Shock series (following Aftershock, 2013). When he says he used to belong to the French Foreign Legion, it sounds faintly ridiculous, coupled with his subsequent career as a mercenary soldier. The love of his life, Dolly, is (what else?) a former nurse in Doctors without Borders. He has PTSD; she has secondary PTSD. They’re living in a tiny town in Oregon, just trying to recover and love each other. But a body, covered with neo-Nazi tattoos, washes up on the beach near their retreat. Police suspect a local schizophrenic, wanting to close a case that could affect tourism, but Dell and Dolly go deeper into the very scary world of hate groups. Absorbing puzzle, building suspense, but cardboard characters and Dell’s arrogant voice get in the way. --Connie Fletcher