Whiskey sour

Except for her name-Jacqueline Daniels (and, yes, she's known by her colleagues at the Chicago Police Department and by her friends as "Jack Daniels")-there's not an original trope in this competent, fast-paced thriller by newcomer Konrath. A lieutenant investigating a particularly gruesome series of homicides, Daniels is like every other hard-boiled fictional cop-obsessed with work, afraid to commit emotionally and overcaffeinated. The other characters also follow formula: her partner is an overweight glutton with a heart of gold; her boss is tough but fair; the federal agents assigned to help her are territorial, superior and ineffectual. And the criminal himself, a serial killer who calls himself the "Gingerbread Man," only differs from others of his ilk in his methodology, not his psychology. He tortures and kills attractive young women, leaving their mutilated bodies in public places. Konrath, who has "performed improvisational comedy" according to his bio, likes to toss off one-liners, and while they're occasionally clever, they lend a jokey tone that jars with the seriousness of the almost gratuitously horrific crimes. Reading like an ill-conceived cross between Carl Hiaasen and Thomas Harris, this cliché-ridden first novel should find a wide audience among less discriminating suspense fans. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Lt. Jacqueline Daniels, a.k.a. Jack Daniels, along with her porcine partner Herb, sleuths her way through Konrath's tongue-in-cheek mystery. Jack and Herb are assigned to find a sadistic murderer called "The Gingerbread Man," who tortures his female victims before killing them. Each torture session is described in lengthy and graphic detail. Jack's dismal love life, her experience with a dating service, and two inept FBI agents add a comic subplot. Susie Breck's accomplished reading brings out Jack's matter-of-fact tone and dry personality; Dick Hill's narration is clear and comprehensible. Recommended for adult fiction collections for patrons who can stomach the gory details of female victimization.-Ilka Gordon, Medical Lib., Fairview General Hosp., Cleveland (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A rapid-fire debut thriller that dares to ask who'll come out on top: Jack Daniels or the Gingerbread Man? The stakes aren't as obvious as they sound. The Gingerbread Man is a psychopathic serial killer who kidnaps, tortures, tortures, tortures, and kills selected young women from the Chicago streets, and Jack (nÉe Jacqueline) Daniels is the Violent Crimes lieutenant who's caught the case but can't catch the perp. On the contrary: The killer announces his attachment to the lead officer by going after her, leaving doctored chocolates in her car, breaking into her apartment, and taunting her with the obligatory phone messages. While she's trying to turn the tables on him, Jack is crossing swords with a pair of FBI clones, cracking jokes with her partner about how she can't even hang on to her live-in boyfriend, applying to a dating service, and watching as the Gingerbread Man gives the nice accountant she's been set up with the shock of his life before snatching his next victim and tying her up in his basement. Can Jack shake her bad luck and bring in her quarry before he kills her and blows up half the Windy City? Plotting, personalities, and gallows humor are all standard-issue. Konrath's most distinctive contribution to the serial-killer genre, apart from seasoning it with a savvy heroine who just can't keep a man, is some seriously gruesome sadism that should keep the kiddies away. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.