New York City in 1896 isn't the nicest place to live. Outside of the ritzy neighborhoods the apartment buildings are shabby, overcrowded, and smelly; the streets are dirty and dangerous.....
…..and whore houses of every kind are prolific and unregulated.
Moreover criminals operate freely and government agencies and police are largely corrupt. To add to the city's problems a serial killer is murdering and mutilating children, mostly young boy prostitutes who dress up as girls.
The murderer gouges out their eyes, cuts off their genitals and buttocks, leaves them in gruesome positions, and so on.
Enter Theodore Roosevelt, the new Police Commissioner of New York, who wants to rout out police corruption.
Roosevelt has dismissed some of the worst offenders and, in the face of strong opposition, is willing to use unorthodox methods to catch the child killer. Thus a rather unconventional secret investigative team is assembled, led by Dr. Laszlo Kreizler - a psychiatrist (or alienist as they were known at the time).
Laszlo's other team members are John Schuyler Moore, a newspaper reporter;
Sara Howard, a would-be detective who's currently Roosevelt's secretary;
….. and Detective Sergeants Marcus Isaacson and Lucius Isaacson, two talented and incorruptible cops.
A couple of Kreizler's former patients also help out: Cyrus, a big black man who functions as a bodyguard and assistant;
and young Stevie, a messenger and carriage driver.
Laszlo and his group are more or less distant precursors to the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit. They study psychology books and lectures to suss out how and why the perpetrator evolved into a vicious psychopath. The team also assembles clues by examining crime scenes,
…..collecting fingerprints, interviewing witnesses, consulting old records,
visiting places the killer may have lived, etc.
Step by step, the team assembles a physical and psychological picture of the killer.
During their inquiries, the investigators are constantly followed, threatened, harassed, hampered, and even attacked.
It seems that powerful forces in the city - including slumlords, businessmen, gang bosses, ex-cops, and religious leaders - don't want the child killings investigated. They fear widespread public awareness of the horrific crimes will rile up the populace and interfere with their money-making schemes. This of course is reprehensible, especially for churches.
The investigation is long and complex, and - though it isn't exactly boring - feels like a lot for the reader to slog through at times. We also gets a peek at how some wealthier New York residents live, with fine dining at Delmonico's;
…..classy homes;
…..luxe furnishings;
…..servants;
…...attendance at the opera; and so on.
Needless to say the team's hard work eventually pays off and leads to a dramatic climax.
The characters in the story are engaging and sufficiently fleshed out for a thriller. I especially liked tough, fearless, gun-toting Sara. She holds her own as the only female on the investigative team and, in fact, the only woman working in the police department - where most people think she doesn't belong. And I got a kick out of little Stevie, who's anxious to help and always cadging cigarettes despite numerous anti-smoking lectures from Lazslo. A jarring note in the story (for me) is a nebulous, unlikely romance that doesn't ring true.
Over all, a very good psychological thriller, recommended for fans of the genre.
Rating: 4.5 stars
In this 9th book in the 'Arkady Renko' series, the Moscow detective goes to Siberia to lock up a criminal, and to look for his journalist girlfriend. The book can be read as a standalone.
*****
Detective Arkady Renko is an Investigator of Special Cases in Moscow, and usually uses his skills, smarts, and intuition to solve homicides.
Renko still has his job despite the fact that his boss, Prosecutor Zurin, can't stand him.
Zurin is a pompous Soviet apparatchik who resents Renko's tendency to flout authority and go his own way. Now Zurin has found a way to get rid of Renko for a while. A Chechen terrorist named Aba Makhmud took a shot at Zurin and escaped to Siberia, where he was caught.
Now Zurin is sending Renko to Siberia to put the finishing touches on Makhmud's conviction and imprisonment.
Renko is happy to go north because his girlfriend, investigative journalist Tatiana Petrovna, went to Siberia for a story and didn't return.
Tatiana's piece is about Russian oligarchs, and she went to the Siberian city of Irkutsk to interview oil baron Mikhail Kuznetsov, who has oil wells in the area.
Kuznetsov was previously imprisoned for criticizing Putin, and is now running against Putin for President. This could potentially put a bullseye on both Kutnetsov and Tatiana's backs. Renko hopes to find Tatiana and convince her to come home.
On the plane to Siberia Arkady meets Rinchin Bolot, a Siberian native who becomes Arkady's 'factotum' (all around helper).
This turns out to be a lucky break because Bolot knows all about ice, bears, and Lake Baikal's version of 'The Bermuda Triangle', all of which endanger Arkady on this trip.
Renko gets to Irkutsk, takes care of the Aba Makhmud business, looks at a sabotaged oil well, and finds Tatiana - who's now following Kuznetov's political campaign.
Renko also hobnobs with oligarchs, gets invited along on a bear hunt.....
…..and finds a couple of murder victims. Arkady investigates, but the case is solved more with luck than detective work. In addition, when Arkady is faced with a 'Siberian dilemma' - one of two bad choices - things are resolved in a manner I didn't find believable and didn't like.
Overall I enjoyed the book, but it's not among the best in the 'Arkady Renko' series (in my opinion)
Rating: 3 stars
As the story opens, Clay Jannon - a young, unemployed web designer - takes a job at 'Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour bookstore' in San Francisco.
This peculiar establishment has a limited number of normal books for sale in front and a large number of unusual books in back which 'members' can borrow.
Clay learns that these odd books apparently hold clues to solving some secret which people have been trying to decipher for centuries.
Curious to figure out what's going on with these books Clay enlists the assistance of friends with needed attributes: coding skills.....
.....money,
.....access to technology,
.....and so on. Clay's group secretly copies and analyzes a key book which eventually leads them to a secret society in New York that's working toward a very special goal.
The activities of Clay's cadre involve numerous intricate gadgets, fancy coding, high-tech cameras, Google's computers, cross-country travel, breaking and entering, and so on. For me the book started off strong but I lost interest about 2/3 of the way in when the 'fairy tale' aspects of the story took over.
Moreover I was disappointed with the book's ending which seemed anti-climactic after the huge build up.
I think people interested in high-tech gadgets would find this book interesting but it just wasn't one of my favorites.
Rating: 3 stars
In this 3rd book in the 'Gregor Demarkian' series, the former FBI agent investigates problems in a political campaign.
The novel is set in the time of Reagan and Nixon, but it could just as easily be happening today. The book works fine as a standalone.
*****
Stephen Fox, Dan Chester, and Kevin DeBrett met in college 25 years ago and made a long-term plan to go into politics. Their roles are as follows:
Fox - good-looking, not too bright, attractive to women - is the candidate;
Chester - cunning, gnomelike, manipulative - is the campaign manager;
DeBrett - smart, self-centered, a physician - helps from the sidelines.
Two decades after college, Fox is a three-term-senator getting ready getting ready to announce his candidacy for President. Stephen is well-positioned for the run because he's relatively popular; his spouse Janet Harte Fox is a 'perfect political wife' who turns a blind eye to his philandering;
And his mother-in-law Victoria Harte is a glamorous celebrity with a Long Island mansion he can use for fund-raising events.
To gear up for Fox's 'big announcement', he's sponsoring a bill that will help children with mental disabilities.
As it happens, Stephen and Janet lost their only child, a baby with Down Syndrome, to crib death. Thus Fox is the perfect figure to push this legislation, which IN REALITY is designed to enrich doctors with clinics for mentally handicapped youngsters....like his friend Kevin DeBrett.
Fox plans a weekend 'seminar' about the legislation at Victoria's estate, and invites people interested in the bill.
Stephen and his colleagues are worried because the Senator has collapsed at three previous political events - and doctors can't pinpoint a cause. Fox's handlers suspect human interference, so Chester asks Gregor Demarkian - who established the Behavioral Analysis Unit at the FBI - to check things out.
Demarkian arrives at Victoria's mansion with a beautiful heiress named Bennis Hannaford, who likes to follow his investigations (no hanky panky). Other people at the Long Island manse include Victoria Harte; Stephen Fox; Janet Harte Fox; Dan Chester, Kevin DeBrett; lobbyist Clare Markey; and Patchen Rawls, a beautiful political groupie who's been having an affair with Stephen. Patchen wants Stephen to divorce his wife and marry her.
Before long there's a mysterious death on the estate, and an FBI agent and the local police show up to investigate.
This incident is soon followed by ANOTHER mysterious death.
The cops can't seem to figure out what happened, so Gregor Demarkian steps up and makes like Hercule Poirot: he interviews suspects, snoops around, sifts clues, and figures out who did what.
This is a mundane mystery with too much boring conversation and too little investigating. That said, the book is worth reading for the entertaining characters, especially Victoria Harte - a former movie star with a discerning eye and sharp tongue; Patchen Rawls - a silly airhead who stalks Stephen and 'casts spells' to capture his heart; and politicians who'd do anything for their personal gain (just like politicians in real life).
This is an okay book to pass a few hours on a quiet afternoon.
Rating: 3 stars
