Bingo: Repair. The heroine has to repair many things: her reputation with the police department, her relationship with her kids, her love life.
A few decades ago I was hooked on Jeffrey Deaver’s books. They were suspenseful and filled with amazing twists I never saw coming. I read a few books of his a year or two ago and they weren’t that great. He had some absurd methods of death, including a guy being eaten by a rogue escalator.
Still, in my Kindle-buying binge of mysteries and thrillers, I picked up Deaver’s Solitude Creek in the hope there was still a little magic left. And there was, just a bit milder.
The book is from his series about Kathryn Dance, a kinesic who uses body language to help police solve cases. It’s a stretch to be sure, but at least a little interesting. There are several plots in this book, mostly one that involves a killer for hire and one about a vicious gang leader.
The killer for hire is identified right away. He works for another man who sets up the kills. This is another book that features the villain as a known entity and the main questions surrounding them are why they do what they do and how they’ll get caught. Kathryn gets brought in after having her gun taken away for screwing up an interview with a gang member. The case starts with Kathryn tracking paperwork down, given she’s off the criminal beat. But soon she’s up to her neck in tracking down the killer.
The killer’s recent crimes all involve starting stampedes in crowded venues. It’s kind of ridiculous, but points for creativity. The killer instigates a panic and in the crush people are killed. No one on the police force can figure out why, although they do figure out he’s a hired killer. But the crimes are odd—hardly standard hits—and it’s tricky to figure out his moves before they happen.
There are twists, as I mentioned, but nothing that knocked me out of my seat. Even so, it was a pretty good book without too much sadism, which I’ve been getting very sensitive to. Which is a good thing, I think. Even in suspense fiction, a reader should never get too blasé.
