Review by New York Times Review
The big question left hanging at the end of THE CUT (Reagan Arthur/Little, Brown, $25.99), George Pelecanos's latest Washington, D.C., crime novel, is whether he can keep his cocky new hero from flaming out. At 29, Spero Lucas, an unlicensed investigator for a criminal defense attorney (and anyone else who'll give him a cut of the action), is considerably younger and friskier than the heavy-lidded private eyes who have imprinted their world-weary stamp on this genre. His values are also different, shaped by the street culture of his tough neighborhood and by his experiences as a Marine in Iraq. Even his musical tastes are more contemporary. (No moody blues for this guy, who prefers reggae, ska and dub.) "There are certain bars I don't hang in," Lucas explains. "I'm not gonna sit around and have drinks with people who are, you know, ironic." He's also man enough to put flowers on his father's grave and pay regular visits to his mother. Lucas is a terrific character, uncorrupted by cynicism and boyishly eager to catch up on the recreational adventures he sacrificed for military service. But, as a young man with appetites, he's also hotheaded and dangerously reckless. Moonlighting for an imprisoned mobster who agrees to his hefty cut for retrieving some stolen shipments of marijuana, Lucas becomes trapped in a gang war that quickly turns brutal and bloody. Before he knows it, he's aiming to kill. The novel's story is O.K., but nowhere near as heart-racing as the storytelling. Although Pelecanos writes in the third person, he seems to be inside Lucas's head, looking out at the world with the omnivorous vision of someone savoring and recording every precious detail. Street scenes are studied as if they were treasures, with individual shops and buildings identified by name and history. Favorite bars are defined by their posters and jukeboxes, diners by their menus and the conversations of their clientele, guns by their make and caliber. People are examined in the same meticulous detail, from their choice of footwear to the murderous thoughts in their heads. What emerges is a magnificent collage of a city loved with a passion by someone ravenous for life. Childhood is a terrifying place in Laura Lippman's psychological thrillers, but that never stops her characters from revisiting this dark country once they've grown up. By mutual consent, the five young friends in THE MOST DANGEROUS THING (Morrow/Harper-Collins, $25.99) went their separate ways in the fall of 1979 after "something bad" happened in the woods. ("They couldn't talk about it, and they couldn't not talk about it, so they stayed away from each other.") Thirty-two years later, the violent death of one of their number - a manic, reckless boy they called "Go-Go" - brings the rest of the clique back home to the neighborhood that once gave them unsupervised access to the wild forest where they lost their innocence. A mysterious childhood secret is standard fare in suspense novels, but Lippman keeps this device fresh with a complex narrative structure of shifting timelines and multiple points of view. These changes in perspective allow her to circle the secret in a way that broadens the mystery and deepens the characters, without ever distracting us from the nagging question of where their parents were when these kids were romping in the woods. The residents of the quiet town where Martin Walker sets his enchanting village mysteries relish all the good things about life in the Périgord region of France: the food, the wine, the friendships and the black truffles that grow among the white oaks in its dense forests. But all it takes is a murder to stir up the animosities of people who, while still fighting old wars, are quick to take up new ones. There's actually too much intrigue in BLACK DIAMOND (Knopf, $24.95), much of it (like the Asian gang wars and human smuggling ring) tangential to more interesting local matters, like the criminal hanky-panky at the great truffle market of Ste. Alvère and the impact of ecological activism on homegrown industries. Happily, Bruno Courrèges, the charming chief of police of St. Denis, doesn't completely lose his head. There are truffles to gather and market days to attend, as well as a sumptuous funeral banquet for a murdered truffle master that surpasses any meal cooked up thus far in a series that always makes your mouth water. Reading Sebastian Rotella's remarkable first novel, TRIPLE CROSSING (Mulholland/Little, Brown, $24.99) is like putting on night goggles: you see things you never knew were there. Rotella, who has covered crime in Latin America as a journalist, sets this thriller in the borderlands of San Diego and Tijuana, but takes the plot beyond the well-traveled fictional territory of Mexican drug cartels and beleaguered customs agents - all the way to the lawless "triple border" of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay where international smugglers and terrorists meet to do business. Valentine Pescatore, an extremely likable young agent with the Border Patrol, represents the good guys for the United States. Leobardo Méndez, commander of an elite law-enforcement unit known as the Diogenes Group, carries the colors for the Mexicans. The pounding action scenes are driven by Rotella's ferocious prose style, but it takes the night vision of a couple of decent cops to expose the scale of the violence, the level of the corruption, the sheer audacity of the criminals. Can George Pelecanos keep the hero of his latest Washington, D.C., crime series from flaming out?
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [September 4, 2011]
Review by Booklist Review
Superb storyteller Lippman continues her trenchant investigation into the malleability of memory and the unexpected ripple effect of crime in another superb stand-alone novel similar in its flashback approach to I'd Know You Anywhere (2010). A 40-year-old man still called Go-Go dies in a car crash. Zip back to 1976. Little Go-Go, his two older brothers, tomboy Mickey, and indulged doctor's daughter Gwen get up to mischief in the deep woods outside their small town on the fringe of Baltimore. Their biggest thrill is discovering an African American man living in a rough cabin with a few chickens and a steel guitar. Now stalwart husbands and fathers Sean and Tim, still feral Mickey, and trendy magazine editor and unhappily married adoptive mother Gwen fear that a toxic secret from their conspiratorial past will emerge. Lippman's riveting geometric tale of lies and guilt encompasses shrewd insights into class divides, the vicissitudes of family, and the radically altered nature of childhood. Spiked with sniper-precise humor, Lippman's wise and provocative novel of destructive choices reminds us that the greatest mystery of all is the inner lives of others. . HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Acclaimed and ever-popular Lippman keeps readers enthralled on two fronts, following her latest Tess Monaghan installment with a powerful novel beyond category.--Seaman, Donn. Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
When a fatal car accident-that may or may not have been a suicide-claims the life of Gordon Halloran, an alcoholic, it rips opens forgotten emotional wounds as the friends he left behind are forced to revisit old traumas and an awful lie they all share. Narrator Linda Emond's understated performance is a perfect fit for Lippman's leisurely prose in this stand-alone novel that alternates between past and present and employs crime as a means of probing beneath psychological facades. Edmond's narration conveys a wide range of emotion, ably captures the book's many characters, and never fails to keep listeners engaged as the author gradually reveals what "the most dangerous thing" really was. A Morrow hardcover. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Lippman, the New York Times best-selling author and creator of the Tess Monaghan PI series, here offers a novel about five childhood buddies. As teens, they spend time together exploring the woods near their Baltimore homes until a disturbing experience during a hurricane destroys their friendship and has a long-lasting effect on their lives and those of their families. They kept their experience secret and have not had contact with one another for many years until Gordon, the youngest and wildest of the group, dies. The former friends reunite to learn what really happened that day. Televison, film, and stage actress Linda Emond provides an excellent narration, accurately capturing each character's personality. Recommended for all mystery collections.-Ilka Gordon, Siegal Coll. of Judaic Studies Lib., Cleveland (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Childhood playmates can't quite put their past behind them in Lippman's tale of growing up too fast but not at all.Like the five points of the star Go-Go Halloran can't get the knack of drawing, Go-Go, his brothers Tim and Sean, Gwen and Mickey seem joined even though each points in a different direction. Tomboy Mickey hates school, loves the outdoors and is neglected by her mother, a waitress with a taste for the wrong men. Pudgy Gwen worries that she'll never be attractive, and once she is, worries even more that she'll turn into her beautiful, sad mother Tally. Tim is a bit of a lout, Sean is the perfect gentleman, but neither gets much attention because their hyperkinetic younger brother Gordon, known to everyone in Dickeyville as Go-Go, snatches up every bit of the family's limited resources. Still, the five travel in unprecedented freedom throughout nearby Leakin Park, even though grown-up Gwen would never let her daughter Annabelle spend hours on end out of the sight of any adult. They hike, catch tadpoles and discover a strange man living in a ramshackle cabin in the heart of the park. But their greatest adventure is being together until disaster tears them apart. Years later, Go-Go's funeral reunites them briefly. Mickey has reinvented herself as McKey, a fearless flight attendant. Sean lives in Florida with his quietly domineering wife Vivian. Tim lives nearby with affectionate Arlene and takes care of his widowed mother Doris. But it's Gwen, the journalist, teetering on the brink of her second divorce, who forces them to reexamine their assumptions about their shared and broken bond.No one explores the delicate interplay between children and the adults they grow into better than Lippman (I'd Know You Anywhere, 2010, etc.).]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
