|
[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
Way back in 1994, April Smith introduced a character by the name of Ana Grey in the acclaimed debut novel North of Montana. It's taken her almost 10 years, but Ana is back in Smith's latest work, Good Morning, Killer. She's still an FBI Special Agent, but her life has changed dramatically in the period between the 2 books. The "man" in the first book, Mike Donnato, has gotten married and moved to best friend status. On the professional front, Ana does well, although sometimes her judgment is negatively impacted by her personal life. She's working in a sexual crimes unit and has all of the characteristics of a great agent. She is sensitive to the plight of the victims that she encounters and skilled at getting them to open up and trust her so that she can pursue the perpetrators. Her long experience has also provided her with the ability to profile the villains which leads to greater success in bringing them to justice. In the current case, a 15-year-old named Juliana Meyer-Murphy has disappeared; and her parents are frantic. Against all odds, Juliana returns home alive, but terribly brutalized. She has been raped and repeatedly strangled into unconsciousness. Ana's heart goes out to her, and she establishes a personal bond with Juliana. The suspect is identified early on, and Ana becomes consumed with him and his actions. On the personal front, however, Ana is a mess. Ana is involved with a Santa Monica cop by the name of Andrew Berringer. Involved is too soft a word-obsessed is more like it. The contrast between her personal and professional lives is dramatically different and unbelievable. In a welcome (but as it turns out, unwelcome) twist, Andrew is assigned to Juliana's case representing the police. On the one hand, he is shown to be a man who establishes a bond with the victims with whom he deals. On the other, he is an arrogant lout who has anger issues. He often does things that undercut Ana's professional position, and she begins to wonder if she can trust him. In spite of that, she is totally subservient to him and will do anything to keep the relationship alive. She stalks him. For some reason, she feels he is her soulmate, a mirror of herself. If I looked in the mirror and that's what I saw, I'd run like hell. When Ana finds Andrew involved with someone else, she totally loses it, chases him in her car at 100 miles an hour and threatens him and the other woman. Later, she goes to a cop bar and embarrasses him publicly. When he shows up at her apartment, tempers flair and an unthinkable thing happens which has huge aftereffects. As a result of the incident, Ana is removed from her position and looking at facing a trial. In spite of all that, she cannot give up the case, proceeds to talk down the suspect and rescue another potential victim. She cannot give up Andrew, either, even though he has all but put a knife in her back during his testimony about the incident in her apartment. The future turns out just as you might expect it would, with yet another implausible event centering on Andrew. This is a strange book to try to analyze. On the one hand, it is extremely fast paced and is likely to be read in just a few sittings. Some of the writing is beautiful. And there is a certain appeal to the protagonist in her professional setting. When the narrative dealt with the case being investigated, it was unstoppable. But unfortunately, the faults of the book bring it down like a tent in a tornado. The characterizations are wildly inconsistent. There is one character in this book who is such a caricature that you can almost hear her cackle every time she is on the page. It felt as if the characters changed completely from what they were at the beginning of the book. Ana's irrational attachment to Andrew irritates in every possible way. After very much enjoying the first book in the series, I regret to say that I found Good Morning, Killer a grave disappointment. Not recommended.
Reviewed by Maddy Van Hertbruggen, July 2003
This book has more than one review. Click here to show all.
[ Top ]
QUICK SEARCH:
Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]
|
