Snow Job

If you’ve been following my blog posts, you know that I’ve become a devotee of Canadian crime novelist William Deverell. Snow Job is the sixth novel of his that I’ve read, the fourth in the Arthur Beauchamp series, and I’m hooked. If you’re new to this author, start at the beginning with Trial of Passion, and you’ll be able to enjoy the character development as the author intended. The story line evolution over the course of these books is remarkable, starting with Beauchamp, a retiring attorney, a master of criminal defense, moving from his home in Vancouver to the rural island of Garibaldi, a short sea plane hop from Vancouver. In the recent book, he’s remarried to an environmental activist who has been elected as Canada’s only Green Party member of Parliament. The action has shifted to Ottawa. While keeping the crazy characters from Garibaldi involved in this new book, Ottawa serves as a launching pad for Beauchamp’s international adventures. There are two more books in this series, and I’ve already downloaded the next one, I’ll See You in My Dreams.

An Evil Mind by Chris Carter

Stanford roommates all four years. Robert Hunter and Lucien Folter. Robert is the son of a blue-collar single dad; mom died of cancer when he was in elementary school. He comforted himself during his father's long absences at work with his school books. Graduated from high school at 15 and was accepted by Stanford. Lucien is the more typical college student. Comes from a bit more money, decent grades, reasonable athlete. Both are studying psychology, each with an interest in the criminal mind.

Upon graduation, Robert stays at Stanford enrolling in the PhD program, which he completes at the age of 23. Lucien heads east and enrolls in Columbia's PhD program in psychology where he gets as far as being ABD (all but dissertation) and more or less falls off the radar. While Lucien went to Robert's PhD ceremony, they both lost touch with each other.

Robert's dissertation was on the mind of the serial killer and became required reading for detectives and federal agents alike. The FBI tried to recruit him for their vaunted behavioral analysis unit, but Robert decided on joining the LAPD starting from the bottom as a patrolman eventually becoming one of their best detectives.

In rural eastern Wyoming, the local sheriff and his deputy pull into a truck stop at 6am to get the first slice of the day's fresh baked pies. Only a couple other tables are occupied. At the counter, the sheriff notices a car's headlights in the mirror headed fast for the restaurant. The car clipped a curb and sideswiped a parked car. No one is hurt, but the sheriff and deputy go out and check on the driver. The deputy looks into the parked car and then into the opened trunk where he finds an open cooler and promptly throws up that delicious pie.

The driver of the car, one Liam Shaw, is taken into custody. Given the nature of contents and that the car is registered in another state, the FBI is called in and takes Shaw to their highest security area deep in the basement of the behavioral unit's home in Quantico, VA. The guy sits silent for days, rising and bedding at exactly the same time each day, staring at a wall of his cell. He is questioned  but says nothing. On the 5th day, he simply says, "I'll only speak with Robert Hunter."

Hunter is headed for a vacation and not interested in helping the FBI, but stops in his tracks when a photo of Shaw is actually his former Stanford roommate, Lucien.

You see, while Robert was learning how to become a policeman and detective, Lucien was sort of teaching himself how to become a serial killer. As any good researcher would do, he kept copious notes on his thoughts, feelings, and methods knowing that someday, they would become a virtual primer on the mind of the serial killer as told by the killer.

Been pretty active, too. His first kill was as an undergrad at Stanford and progressed to Columbia and then out to the rest of the country. 25 years worth. In the interviews, Lucien knows he holds all the cards because he knows the victims and where they are all buried. And he relishes jerking the chain of the FBI and Hunter. He's good. Had to be to stay out of the FBI's interest for so long. Had it not been for a random accident, he might still be out there killing.

From what I've heard, the source material for the Hannibal Lector character is perhaps the creepiest presentation of a serial killer in current literature. The crimes committed by Lucien are hideous and Lucien is the epitome of a sociopath on steroids. The step by step evolution of Lucien and his crimes takes one into a mind that no sane person can comprehend. Dozens of twists and reveals are breathtaking.

Having said that, it seems like this book should have had a deeper development of both Hunter and Lucien. What's there is good, but I found I was wanting more of how Lucien became this way and less about what he had done. Same for Hunter. In the end, it seemed like I was reading the script of a stage play with 2 main characters and 2 supporting players (FBI agents).

An interesting take on the cop-perp interplay and worthy of a look. If it only had a little bit more.

East Coast Don

Hushabye by Celina Grace

Celina Grace is a mystery writer who decided to self-publish after fifteen years of striking out in the traditional publishing game.  She is best known for her Kate Redman series which features the female detective sergeant in the UK’s West Country district.

In Hushabye, the baby of Nick and Casey Fullman is kidnapped and their nanny is murdered during the abduction.  Nick Fullman is a successful real estate developer and workaholic.  As Kate and fellow officer Mark Olbeck familiarize themselves with the Fullman family, they find several persons of interest and multiple motives for the crime.  Nick has a dubious past including mob related business deals, a jealous ex-girlfriend and an administrative assistant with a crush on him.  With no ransom demand, no one can immediately be eliminated as a suspect.  Kate feels a personal connection to the case.  As a teenager, she gave up a baby for adoption and the guilt and regret she harbors from this experience leads her down pathways totally ignored by her male colleagues.

I chose this author because her given name, Celina is the same as my hometown, a name you rarely find in the world today.  So with my expectations set appropriately low, I was surprised to discover a reasonably well written novel.  The characters were interesting and well developed and the plot was plausible and complex.  Yet I thought it lacked that something special to draw you in and compel you to keep flipping pages.  It lacked the suspense you feel from the more prominent authors and therefore by comparison made this story seem rather ordinary.

Final Approach by John J. Nance

Chapter 1: The weather is tough in Kansas City. The whirling storm cells have Captain Pete Kaminsky of North America flight 170 worried enough to park the Boeing 737 away from the gate in an area before the taxi runway they call the hammerhead and let the cells pass. An incoming North America Airbus 320, flight 255,  is on final approach captained by the airline's senior management pilot.  And off to the far end of the airport is a C-5A loading a massive parcel for the Air Force. 

Chapter 2: The Airbus makes an attempt at landing only to encounter a wind shear and the pilot aborts the landing. Hanging out at the outer beacon is the co-pilot's suggestion but the captain rejects it and gets clearance to make a loop around the airport for a second attempt. Flight 255 circles back around, makes the turn, but fails to make the last turn when the nose dips and is now headed directly at the 737 waiting at the hammerhead. When the landing lights of 255 show the plane bearing down fast, Captain Kaminsky powers up to move his plane out of the way. Problem is a plane doesn't accelerate like a muscle car. Flight 255 hits 170 broadside scattering debris and bodies across the waterlogged Kansas City tarmac; hundreds are dead. 

Pretty hefty start, wouldn't you say?

Chapter 3 to the end of the book: Joe Wallingford is an airline accident investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board, the NTSB. Investigative teams essentially wait out the next disaster. When your team is in the bullpen as the next Go Team and an accident happens, you go. Wallingford's team draws this collision and heads out immediately.

When they arrive, their first order of business is to find the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from each plane. As they pick through the pieces, the impending shitstorm becomes apparent:
1. Why didn't 255 finish the turn, then nose down, and why didn't the co-pilot intervene.
2. What was in that massive container being loaded to that C-5A that no one seems to want to acknowledge even exists much less was actually there.
3. On board 255 was a Congressman from Louisiana whose political leanings made David Duke look like Bernie Sanders. His 'people' are screaming murder and sabotage.
4. North America airline is hemorrhaging red ink and forcing pilots to scale back needed maintenance to save time, money, and maintain their flight statistics.
5. The head of the NTSB, a political hack vying for an ambassadorship and maybe a cabinet post, is making noises to Wallingford  about the Airbus having technical issues and wants the investigation directed there and not at North America airline or any possible human factor error.
6. The 2nd in charge at the FAA is known to favor US-produced aircraft and is looking for any excuse to ground the French-made Airbus.
7. Then there is the matter of an unauthorized car on the tarmac that snuck in behind a crew shuttle bus. A certain Kansas Senator was meeting his chief of staff (and main squeeze) who was booked on 255. When he sees the crash, he is sure she is dead, panics, and flees the airport. Security cameras pick up the car dashing out, leading some to think the occupant had something to do with the crash.

How would you like to be the Investigator-In-Charge of this nightmare? But being an NTSB investigator is all Wallingford ever wanted to be. He loves that his job is to determine the cause and to figure out how to make sure it doesn't happen again. Blame is not in the mandate of the NTSB. The courts will determine that when the passenger's families start piling on the lawsuits.

This is a new genre for me. The airline thriller. A single incident whose aftermath spirals out of control as new evidence is found and old theories are discounted. Nance is a former fighter pilot, airline pilot, a lawyer, and airline consultant for various news outlets; the insider's knowledge lends a high degree of authenticity to the story. About half of Nance's fiction titles are airline thrillers. As odd as this might sound,  the nature of the strain between business, the NTSB, FAA and the potential interference of politics really contribute to making this an edge-of-your-seat thriller.

I came across this on Net Galley. The story is set in the early 1990s when Reagan's Star Wars defense initiative was still in full swing. What I didn't notice until about two-thirds of the way into the book is that this book's original copyright date was 1992 (Nance's first novel); most of the titles I get from Net Galley are new releases. Turns out Final Approach was re-released by another publisher in late January 2016.

While some might think this has the earmarks of a made-for-TV movie, I really thought it was far better than that. We here at MRB will occasionally call a book an 'airplane' book, meaning it would be a worthy diversion for a long flight, however, I think you probably should reserve this for when you are grounded for a while. Not sure an airplane disaster book is proper reading on a long flight, but that's just me.

East Coast Don

Russian Roulette by Mike Faricy

St. Paul (not Minneapolis) private detective Devlin (‘Dev’) Haskell sits at the bar in The Spot when this knockout of a blonde walks in, turning all heads, Dev’s included. She chooses a stool next to Dev. Orders a double vodka martini; a double, Dev’s kind of woman. Kerri. She promptly offers him a $500 retainer to find her sister, Nikki. Pulls out a photo of two naked women and two clothed men posing on a beach. One is Asian, Nikki is the redhead. Couldn’t tell if Nikki was a natural redhead.

Basic missing person case, the bread and butter of a PI. Tells his police department contact, Aaron who quickly dismisses Dev. Before long, Aaron calls Dev to the morgue to look at a Jane Doe. The Asian in the photo. Dev reports back to Kerri and after the meeting, an instinct surfaces and he logs Kerri’s license plate number.

The high-priced Benz is registered to a low rent company run by a couple of lower rent dealers . . . who also were recently found, or at least pieces of them were found; three of the four in the photo are dead.

Dev again tells Kerri what he’s found right about the time a car drives by and takes a shot that grazes Dev’s head putting him in the hospital. At Dev or at Kerri? Then a call service center manager connected to Kerri gets run over in a hit and run.

Over the next couple weeks, Dev lands in the hospital two more times. Poisoned (by whoever took the shot or by a sour girlfriend waitressing at a restaurant he and Aaron were dining) and after a car bomb obliterated his ride.

Clues pile up that a Russian trafficker in women and drugs plus a money launderer extraordinaire with Chicago connections is behind everything that’s going on. And it appears he is cleaning house after folding one aspect of his empire.

The Dev Haskell series is up to 13 titles now. I read a review of his latest and the book blurb said something like Haskell is a PI who could’ve percolated from the mind of Carl Hiassen. I like Hiassen a lot and decided, why not? So I started with the first Dev Haskell. Now I think Hiassen’s sense of humor is very sly and satirical poking fun of the people of Florida (particularly real estate developers). Faricy’s Haskell is more the smart aleck PI who overtly tries to pull people’s chain. That way, Haskell is more like Robert Crais’ Elvis Cole (a definite fav of the MRB boys). Don't expect these to be variations on Fargo because of its location. Still, Faricy and Haskell are a real possibility. While I doubt Faricy will be ‘must read’ books for me (at this point), when I seem to have a lull in titles on my nightstand or Kindle, Faricy and Haskell could easily fill the void. Worth pursuing. Decent book that doesn't take itself too seriously.

East Coast Don

Breakdown by Jonathan Kellerman

Dr. Alex Delaware, child psychologist and part time police sleuth, gets a call concerning the mother of a former patient.  Zelda, a former actress with mental problems, is now homeless and incoherent.  Her son, Ovid who was Dr. Delaware’s patient five years earlier is nowhere to be found.  Alex arranges for Zelda’s care in a well-managed facility but she escapes and is found dead near a Bellaire mansion several miles away on prestigious Bel Azura Drive.  Zelda’s behavior before her death causes Alex to request in depth poison analysis of her body from the coroner.  Results reveal poison from plants rare to residential Los Angeles.  Without any connection to anyone on Bel Azura Drive, Zelda’s death is presumed accidental.

 

But Alex can’t let it go.  He needs to know what has happened to Zelda in the past five years and more importantly if her son, Ovid is safe.  Lt. Milo Sturgis knows Alex well enough to indulge his hunches well past LAPD’s normal procedure.  When a maid goes missing from Bellaire and another body turns up with plant poison in her system, Alex digs deeper for a connection to the wealthy residents of Bel Azura Drive.  One of them quite possibly is a diabolical killer.

I’ve been a Jonathan Kellerman fan for over thirty years and still look forward to his annual installments to his Alex Delaware series.  I read Breakdown in two days, haunted to discover the outcome.  After thirty some books, there’s no need for character development as the characters are like old friends.  The psychological thrill comes not from action packed events but from the anticipation that something wicked is about to happen.  Even with Alex’s calm and methodical demeanor, the reader just knows that evil lurks just around the corner.  And who better to deal with it than Dr. Alex Delaware and Lt. Milo Strugis.

The Long Fall

Leonid McGill is a private detective in New York, and it’s a PI from Albany, Ambrose Thurman, who hires him to find four guys. All he had to go on was their street names from more than 20 years earlier: B-Brain, Big Jim, Toolie, and Jumper. McGill had a long history of doing really dirty work, often for the Mafia, but in the last few years, he had grown a conscience. He was only willing to track these men after being assured by Thurman that no harm would come to any of them. McGill was able to track the men down, but when they started to be murdered, he was angered. Then, Thurman was killed, clearly as an attempt by his client to cover tracks. This was a good and fast read, excellent entertainment.

Walter Mosley is a most prolific author who you might know from the movie Devil in a Blue Dress starring Denzel Washington. That movie was from the first of his 13 mystery novels about Easy Rawlings, a black PI in LA. In this book, The Long Fall, Mosley included numerous interesting characters including McGill’s son, Twill of whom his father described, “For all his superior qualities, was a natural-born criminal.” McGill’s estranged wife Katrina moved back in with him when her wealthy lover was indicted for securities fraud. There is no love in this relationship and McGill Katrina will be out of there as soon as she can land another wealthy guy. Of course, McGill was really in love with his landlord, Aura Antoinette Ullman. This is the first in his five-novel series about McGill, and I plan to quickly move onto the second book, Known to Evil.

Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin

Riley Cavenaugh is a 16-year-old high school student who does not know from day-to-day what would be the proper gender choice. It’s called being “gender fluid.” This person has the agony of not knowing how to fit in with his/her high school peers, who to fit in with her family, and how to think about himself/herself. The characters literally jump off the page in a very real and most compelling manner. And, just to complicate matters, Riley’s dad is a congressman who is in the process of running for re-election at the same time Riley chooses to “come out.”

Symptoms of Being Human is geared toward teens and young adults, a debut novel by Jeff Garvin, and is published by a subsidiary of Harper Collins. The book launch occurred less than a week ago, and this one is on the fast track to be one of the important books of 2016. Considering other events in the news in the past year (think Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner), it could not be more timely. The audience for this story should be to a much wider crowd, not just to people who are struggling with their gender identity, although they are the main target audience. Parents, friends, therapists, and anyone who is interested in the topic will find this novel illuminating.

The screenplay has already been written and Harper Collins is already negotiating with Hollywood for the film rights. I attended the book launch and now expect that Jeff Garvin, who may be a debut novelist but is also an experienced storyteller, is someone who you’re bound to see and hear on the talk show circuit. As a public speaker, he has a commanding presence. He is one impressive young man.