Starred review from September 30, 2002
This intricate, first-rate thriller delves into the troubled past of Mayor's most complex character, Detective Willy Kunkle, of Joe Gunther's Vermont Bureau of Investigation. When Kunkle learns that his ex-wife Mary overdosed on heroin in Manhattan, he hastens there to identify her body. Suspecting murder, he convinces Ward Ogden, a high-ranking NYPD detective, to reopen the case. In tracing Mary's life in New York, Kunkle revisits his own Manhattan childhood, membership in the NYPD, the trauma of Vietnam and strained relations with his dysfunctional family. When he's arrested during a raid on an illegal club, Joe and Detective Sammie Martens, Kunkle's lover, come to New York, and the two country cops prove they're as astute as their city counterparts. As the plot becomes more convoluted—but never confusing—Kunkle's quest for Mary's killer parallels Ogden's and Joe's. A harrowing chase through New England leads them all to the defunct Portsmouth Naval Prison in New Hampshire and a heart-stopping finale. Mayor's understanding of human behavior makes his tortured protagonist an unforgettable character. His powers of description not confined to Vermont, the author imbues well-known and obscure New York neighborhoods with a sparkling sense of place. A riveting plot and exceptional writing will surely enhance Mayor's reputation. (Oct. 22)FYI:Mayor's last Joe Gunther mystery was
Tucker Peak (Forecasts, Oct. 15, 2001).
September 15, 2002
In this surprising change of pace for Mayor's Joe Gunther series, the setting moves from rural Vermont to some of New York's meanest streets, and the protagonist switches from the easygoing Gunther to one of his detectives, loose cannon Willy Kunkle. When Kunkle is asked to identify his ex-wife's body in Manhattan, he embarks on what quickly becomes a journey of self-discovery, with the tightly wound former Vietnam sniper forced to confront not only his wartime experiences and postwar alcoholism but also some even darker secrets from his childhood. It's all part of proving that his ex-wife did not die of an accidental drug overdose but was murdered. Tagging along for support but forced to keep to the background are Gunther and Sammie Martens, also a cop and the woman in Kunkle's troubled life. Mayor, a master of the slow-paced, relationship-driven small-town mystery, proves equally capable here of tightening his grip around the neck of the hard-boiled novel--but without losing his feel for the subtlety of human interaction.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)