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Steve Thayer can write, there is no question about that. His plotting is fresh, his characters are interesting and the story is always engaging. Principal character, P.A. Pennington, now retired to the wild shore of Lake Michigan is the narrator of this tale. At the time of this story, Pennington was a deputy sheriff in Kickapoo Falls, Wisconsin. He got the job after a stint as a sniper in the U.S. Army in World War II. Late in that war he was assigned to help stop Nazi escapes through a part of the difficult Bavarian Alps at a place called Wolf Pass. These segments are among the best parts of the book. The story moves back and forth in time, sometimes jumping several years, sometimes days, sometimes minutes. Readers must pay attention. The narrative is dense, usually compelling and well-paced. Like its immediate predecessor, The Wheat Field, it contains a number of fascinating pastoral descriptions, jarringly interrupted by sometimes incredible mayhem. Since Pennington's position in the community is already suspect, and his war record is no help, when a sniper kills two train employees, during a stop in downtown Kickapoo, Pennington's immediate reaction is to recall his wartime exploits. Since the community does likewise, he falls under suspicion. In a corrupt police force, complicated by personal animosities, election politics and the author's apparent unhappiness with various developments in the area of the Wisconsin Dells, as well as a list of other social ills, the deputy struggles to find the killer, fulfill his creator's interest in off-beat sex, and protect the nation. If you can forgive and ignore the holes in the investigation, you'll enjoy the book.
Reviewed by Carl Brookins, February 2003
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