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When a tip-off is received about a dead body in a Los Angeles marsh the police also discover three older corpses nearby. All of the corpses have had their right hands removed and are laid out facing east. Dr Alex Delaware, psychologist, joins his LAPD friend Milo Sturgis, in the hunt to track down the killer; they are joined by rookie detective Moe Reed, and at times by Moe's PI brother Aaron. The first dead body is that of Selena Bass who teaches music to the son of a millionaire; the other three are those of prostitutes. The marsh itself is under the devoted warden-ship of committed eco-warrior Silford Duboff. The investigation puts the millionaire's handyman, Travis Huck, in the spotlight, but there are a number of other suspects and leads to be investigated. This is a book which breeds a curious disengagement. The plotting is solid enough, though never spectacular nor especially surprising. The best aspect is some of the minor characterisation though even this always tends towards to the expected and stereotypical - the spoilt rich-kid, the obsessed eco-warriors, the difficult, wealthy lawyer. The main characters are pretty unsympathetic and rather incompetent - Milo gets one idea in his head and follows it to the exclusion of others and it is the PI who provides the crucial breakthrough. And Alex Delaware himself, the protagonist, is a very shallow psychologist whose observations never seem to rise beyond the ponderously obvious (I would run a mile from his couch!). Overall the best way to sum up the feel of the book is mechanical; it feels as if written by numbers. This is not to say it is incompetent - the numbers are followed and the sums add up in their fashion. But there is no real emotional involvement and no deviation from the expected in terms of either characterisation or descriptive writing. The narrative competence will carry the reader through but still leave one feeling unsatisfied.
Reviewed by Nick Hay, November 2008
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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