Lovely young women brutally beaten to death in the early hours of the morning on the doorstep her college. Not robbery. Not rape. Just bludgeoned to death.
Clare Carleson is the news editor for Channel 10 in the City. She's having lunch with the station owner who has just told Clare that he has hired a new Executive Producer (EP, now Clare's boss) to bust chops and raise the station's ratings. Eyeballs drive TV news and Clare's knack for breaking big stories and her Pulitzer Prizes are old news.
Clare's #2 at the station interrupts lunch with a call telling Clare about the Riley Hunt murder last night. Clare's going to go all in on this one, new EP or not. But the new EP does make one decision on her first day: Clare will be the face of the story. Put the biggest name on the biggest story.
The early work from the police is that it's sad story told too often in the Big Apple. A random act perpetrated on a random victim. Happens. Clare's journalistic antennae are activated and begins doing her reporter due diligence.
-She learns Riley had a boyfriend. And not just any boyfriend. This guy is the son of a Deputy Director of the NYPD.
-A bartender near the college tells Clare that Riley had spent time in the bar with another guy. One Johnny Steffano. A real hothead with a rapsheet. Not what one might expect Riley to be involved with. And it's not just his temper. He's the son of an organized crime boss in the NYC.
-Her college roommate is a theater major who mentions to Clare that Riley had lost her laptop or it was stolen. Not to mention that Riley's phone wasn't found at the crime scene.
-The Afghanistan/Iraq vet with PTSD Riley met through one of her volunteer gigs.
-Riley's father is devastated. Her mom, an Easton alum, is strangely stoic when she gets the news, but is visibly shattered at the memorial organized by the college.
Lot of balls to keep in the air. As if juggling all those leads isn't enough, Clare has to deal with the new EP wanting to fire some of the on-air talent at Channel 10, tries to keep the station's news ship afloat during the EP's assault, work with her ex-husband/homicide detective's role in the case, keep another ex- (not husband) who is a ADA lothario still trying to bed Clare at arm's length, do the dating dance with a Princeton Spanish prof that Clare's best friend set her up with, and bemoan her general inability to have anything resembling a social life.
No 11th hour disclosures by Belsky. Clare's history is to not accept the party line of a big story. She lives for the next Big Story. She wants any minute thread that might - just might - lead to the next chip in the game. That's what drives her and drives away most anyone not connected to her pursuit of the truth. This woman doesn't know when to throw up her hands and agree with what the rest of the legal community of New York says. No way. No how.
And that makes for a great story, a fun read, and a raucous escape from Covid-19, Ukraine, and the roller coaster weather. This is Belsky's 5th Clare Carleson book, all of which have been reviewed by the boys at MRB. All told Belsky has at least 12 books to his credit and most all pertain to 'the news' because that's what he does. He's made a career of 'the news' be in print, TV, digital, etc. mostly in New York. He writes what he knows: Crime, NYC, News. And he's dang good at it.
I first stumbled across Belsky's Gill Malloy character in around 2014/15 and loved it (all 4 Malloy books are reviewed on the blog). He then moved onto the Clare Carleson character. The blog now has 9 Belsky books reviewed on the blog. And I think I can say that Belsky deserves a place of honor on my personal power rotation of authors.
Three other reasons I like Belsky's books. First, it's published by Oceanview, my 2nd favorite publisher (a close 2nd to Emily Bestler Books). Second, the Oceanview website mentions that Belsky occasionally writes under the pseudonym of Dana Perry - more reading opportunities. Finally, the Oceanview blog says Belsky is an alum of the J-School at Ohio University . . . my alma mater.
Keep it up, pal. We're addicted to your next story that should be due this time in 2023. Mark your calendar.
Due to be published October 2022. Thanks to NetGalley and Oceanview for the advance review copy.
ECD
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