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LONG DECEMBER, THE by Donald Harstad Rugged Land, October 2003 307 pages $24.95 ISBN: 1590710134

"Ah", says our reviewer, settling in with a book by an author she likes, "another satisfying police procedurŠ.wait a minuteŠ" Okay, serves me right - I try never to read flap copy. Well, but this is  a good police procedural, but there's much more going on.

First off, one of those comparisons I seldom use. But truly, if you like Steven F. Havill, you will, I think, like Don Harstad. If you don't, you'll still like Don Harstad (and then you can write to me and explain why you don't like Havill, but never mind that now).

Harstad has come along only recently, offering well-written, multi-dimensional books about crime in rural Iowa. His lead character is pragmatic, smart, and interesting.

This story is quite different; two "bachelor" farmers witness a cold-blooded execution. When the law goes out to investigate they find a stranger and things go to hell from there. The feds get involved (oh, man do they) and there is nothing simple about what happens.

Harstad's characters are especially satisfying to watch in action; competence is always admirable and his smart savvy people are good at their jobs. I like the continuing characters like Iowa DCI Agent Hester Gorse, and the intelligence, the calm, the ability that the law enforcement people bring to the story (and on occasion, the total lack of intelligence on someone's part and how they deal with that too.) A minor flaw for me in this book was that, despite being given a timeline throughout the book for when things too place, the weaving back and forth was still somewhat confusing - it all did fall into place, but there were some abrupt transitions. No major deal but in a fast-moving narrative like t this one, sometimes it was hard to place things.

Without going into too much detail about the plot, this story simply would not have been told before September 11, 2001. The story is definitely "post 9/11" and it made me uneasy. Not that it's not a topic worth exploring, it most definitely is, and A Long December is especially interesting in that it's not set in New York, or Washington; it's looking at the effects of our current world and national political situation and how it affects everyone, everywhere (even, for example in rural Nation County, Iowa). I am not sure what it is exactly that causes me to feel so troubled by the story in this book; I'm not sure if it's implausible, I'm not sure if it could be true. Sure, I know I'm reading fiction, but it's not that simple. I might not be able to reread this book, as it brings some very scary people and some very scary issues to light. But it sure is worth reading.

Reviewed by Andi Shechter, November 2003

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)

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