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Rush McKenzie (known as Mac) doesn't have to work for a living, due to a deal he worked out years ago, but the former cop likes to keep busy so works as a sort-of private eye. Mac is supposed to spend the evening at a big deal ($500 per ticket) charity event (at least for Nina, his lady friend) when a very messed up woman steps out in front of his car saying something is wrong with her boyfriend. No kidding – he's very dead. I mean dead for a while, creepy crawlies and all. When the local cop arrives, he abuses the very messed-up woman, who is in shock at the very least, and when Mac intervenes, he's arrested. Not a good start. Did Merodie Davies kill her drunk boyfriend and then blank out? Her lawyer has her doubts, but Merodie can't be sure. She's got alcohol problems of her own. Mac has a little of the battered knight about him but he was a cop, so he's not naïve, it's just that lots of things don't add up, including what seems to be a rush to judgment to get this woman convicted. There are some good side stories about ambitious politicians (and always the issue of who prosecutors answer to is there) and Priscilla St Ana, a woman whom Merodie protects who turns out to be very important in her life – but whose side is she on? I like this writer but bits of this book just didn't work for me. One thing likeable about Mack is that he's 'evolved' if you will, he's a little more understanding about relationships and women. He's not threatened, for example that Nina is successful and accomplished. But when she goes out with another guy, his response is childish, testosterone-laden and disappointing. Nina's acting out a bit too. After all, what would she have done? Had she been in the car with Mac, she would have seen the woman really needed help. It might be a little hard sometimes hanging out with a do-gooder but come on, she knows the guy by now. I also had lots of trouble with feeling sympathy for Merodie, who is alternatively stupid and sweet and thick and dim. She worries about cleaning up the blood in the house, but doesn't seem to understand that she will be tried for murder, that she was in that house with the very dead Eli for days. She seems to be a born victim ("why do these things always happen to me?" she says at one point. Oh brother) but unable to understand much of anything. Is she stupid? Has the alcohol taken its toll? She switches to sweet a lot, but I don't exactly buy it, though Mac does. I wanted to feel more sympathy but ended up feeling mostly annoyed. I don't know the Twin Cities (that's Minneapolis/St. Paul) very well, but love what I know and appreciate the deftness with which Housewright shows you around the area. I still like Mac, mostly, but wish he and Nina would both dump the trite behavior. I could swear it wasn't there in the beginning and it's disappointing to read it now. I'll probably read the next one (I wasn't thrilled with PRETTY GIRL GONE) but he's one of the good guys writing today so I'll stick with it. But hey, Mac? Enough with the "want to punch out the date/follow her home" shtick, okay? You're better than that.
Reviewed by Andi Shechter, May 2007
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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