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Gregor Demarkian has been at a loss, foundering, since his lover Bennis walked out of his life. She left most of her things, but neglected to leave a forwarding address – not with Gregor, not with anyone on Cavanaugh Street. Gregor doesn’t do well with this kind of thing. He likes structure, he likes routines, he likes stability. Gregor is actually quite relieved when he is given a job to do, a job that requires the skills he used to use as head of the FBI’s Behavioral Sciences Unit. Henry Tyder, an alcoholic semi-homeless scion of a prominent Philadelphia family (they make Main Liners look like rank upstarts), has been accused of, and confessed to, the Plate Glass Killings. He is given a public defender before the powers-that-be realize just who Henry Tyder is. Henry likes his PD, and decides to keep him. The PD calls in Gregor, because Henry is quite probably incapable of keeping his act together enough to kill several people. One, maybe. Several? Probably not. But it could happen. In the middle of this very messy case, Bennis comes home. One can imagine what this does to Gregor’s life. He’s caught up in this case, which has multiple other suspects, and there has been another woman in the picture while Bennis has been incommunicado. Nothing serious, but a complication. GLASS HOUSES is the 21st (if the list in the front of the book is accurate) in the Demarkian series. Haddam has definitely grown as a writer over the course of the series. While the storyteller is omniscient, the reader gets to see the case from many perspectives – all the suspects, Gregor, and the members of the Tyder family. This was a trifle confusing at first, but not for very long. The plotting is quite good; Haddam uses some of her characters and their problems to obscure (while not actually concealing) a few major clues. She is very good at giving the reader enough of the back story so that one is not totally lost; long-time readers of the series will be up to speed in no time. GLASS HOUSES continues Haddam’s series in fine fashion.
Reviewed by P. J. Coldren, April 2007
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